Beyond strategies and timing
by xentrya
Summary: Let's just say that the scenario of Sacrifice and Soul Possession kinda forgot to mention some pretty important stuff...
1. The Council

**Beyond strategies and timing **

**(Xentrya)**

**1 THE COUNCIL**

**Disclaime**r: I do not own the characters of Xena: Warrior Princess. They belong to Studio USA and Renaissance Pictures. No profit has been made from this story, damn!

"Like what's all the fuss about Ar? Does Hera want a divorce again? I swear if this is just another one of Hermes' stupid pranks I'll show him! He'll be spending the rest of eternity writing love letters to Medusa! I have a hair appointment in like 10 minutes, and my nails are still not dry yet!" the Love Goddess grumbled lowly, displeased with the sudden change of plans to which she was forced to adjust despite her will."

"Haven't heard anything yet. It'd better be important though I was in the middle of a War and if I lose this battle because of him, I swear it on Styx, that nimrod won't leave Appolo's healing center for months." a visibly irritated War God stated, tightening the grip on his sword.

"Stop whining Ares I have all the time in the world to get your ass kicked council or no council." Athena joined the conversation the instant she materialized next to her brother, tapping his shoulder mockingly. "By the way...condolences for your third legion. My men just blew them up seconds ago. Sorry you've missed it. It was quite a show! Scattered members everywhere...But don't worry, maybe Father will have the decency to be brief for once and we can go back enjoy the rest of the mayhem...That is if those brainless peasants that you so generously like to call **soldiers ** won't abandon the fight in the meantime and run to save their worthless lives" she whispered lowly against his ear, making the steaming God throw her a gaze that would have made about anyone drop down and play dead.

"**Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling" **, Sis', was it?" Ares retorted, barely repressing his frustration.

"Not quite...I actually believe it was **"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." **the proud Goddess bit back, an arrogant smirk making her perfect visage seam even colder than usual.

"Will you two cut it out already? You're like totally giving me a headache!" Aphrodite intervened, her eyes focused on Demeter Hera and Poseidon who had just materialized in the large but now surprisingly narrow throne room. "Hera seams really pissed..." she added, contemplating the Queen's clenched teeth and ball up fists which appeared to be perfectly in tune though with the hardly controlled level of her voice. "I wonder what they're talking about..."

"Well one thing's for sure... if Father bothered to call even the minor Gods to Olympus...it's not good..."Athena remarked the moment Discord Strife and Cupid entered the room.

"Oh gee! And you figured that out all by yourself ? " Ares spit out rolling his eyes at the overly reflective Goddess of Wisdom.

"Whoaaaaa!" Aphrodite's high pitched tonality filled the air, and, along with her wide open eyes she managed to completely capture Athena's interest, successfully making her forget all about the War God's former line. "Is that uncle Hades? !" she inquired loudly, pulling the edge of Ares' leather vest as if she were some five years old kid trying to get his mother's attention. "

"And Celesta..." Athena rushed to fill in the gaps.

"What in Chronos' name is going on here?" Ares couldn't help wondering contemplating the never ending arrival of deities.

Artemis, Dionysus, Apollo, Leto, Hestia, Hebe, Persephone, Hephaestus, even the Furies...they were all there...

He was getting anxious. He hated being in the dark.

"Is this some public execution or something?" he sneered, biting his lower lip nervously as a sudden shade of alarm flashed on the surface of his chocolate brown eyes.

For a short moment there, he said nothing more, just to restart on a low, dubious tone as he casually planted an arm around Athena's shoulders:

"Hey Sis, do you think that we might have overreacted a bit...with our little squabble this morning?"

As if having hit her in the head, the Goddess just threw him a sharp, ironic look before finally covering his hand with her own in some sort of fraternal gesture that had nothing to do though with neither tenderness nor compassion.

"Scared brother? " she replied caustically, aware that inside the God's mind, the idea of **oblivion** -which Zeus hade so clearly underlined the last time he and Athena had a similar altercation that ended with them both erasing entire cities and temples from the face of the earth just for the sake of proving who's the best-was still echoing like a bell. "...Don't worry. I'll protect you..." she ended through gritted teeth.

"Do pigs fly?!" Aphrodite couldn't help exclaiming, bursting into laughter the moment she ended her phrase.

They were all three reduced to silence though, when, with a thunder like sound, the all mighty Zeus made an appearance.

Everybody bowed their heads respectfully, getting ready to kneel in front of their King when Zeus's commanding voice let them know he was not in the mood of having his boots licked that day.

"I think we can skip the formalities"

They all froze.

"This must be the Twilight!" Aphrodite stated above a whisper, taken aback by her father's unprecedented behavior.

On the other hand, hearing their ditsy sister's unconscious prophecy, Ares and Athena silently exchanged an obviously concerned look. At that point everything was possible...

All eyes were on Zeus. The Gods were hardly breathing. And though the young ones could only suspect that something had gone terribly wrong, the elder ones were able to recognize the Olympian King's expression in less a blink: it was either War or Applying the Law...neither one had ever ended well...


	2. The Diversion

**Disclaime**r: I do not own the characters of Xena: Warrior Princess. They belong to Studio USA and Renaissance Pictures. No profit has been made from this story, damn!

**THE DIVERSION**

"You're probably wondering what is the unexpected reason for which I have summoned you all here today" Zeus started, motioning for them to take a seat.

"Oh great! He wants us to seat! I guess that shatters your theory about him having the decency to be brief, Sis!" the War God mumbled beneath his breath, eying Athena derisively.

"Shut up Ares!" came the logical answer that the God could swear he was going to receive, given the fact that it was he generally the standard answer that his sister had the habit of using whenever things didn't go according to her ever so wise predictions.

"Shhhhhhh!" Demeter silenced them both, throwing them a glare to match the harshness of her gesture.

Zeus on the other hand seamed to pay them no mind. He was way to worried with everything that was going on as to bother with them too.

When his next words echoed throughout the impressively sonorous room, he didn't even have too. It seamed like no one was even breathing any more.

"Dahok is gathering the forces of darkness to reenter the world. He had found a way to break to gates of the other world...It's only a matter of time."

Silence, except for Apollo who couldn't suppress a loud gasp.

"How long have you been holding this from us dear Husband?" Hera's sharp voice sliced the air like a knife, one that apparently she would have gladly stuck into the Olympian King's chest.

"Not long. Two days.I needed to be sure first before alerting the entire Pantheon, don't you think?" he snapped. " Hades and Celesta had sensed the power of darkness increasing considerably in intensity and came to let me know. We put the pieces together and the Fates confirmed the rest."

"Who's this Dahok dude anyway? Is he even strong? I mean why do we even worry about him? You could like always turn him to ashes or something with one of your lightening bolts right?" Strife inquired waving his hand casually as if he had no care in the world.

"I'm somehow under the impression that the only one who's be getting that honor any time soon will be you, if you dare address my brother in such a disrespectful manner again, Strife!" Poseidon replied, displeased with the minor God's attitude.

As it always happened when things started to heat up, Athena felt obliged to intervene.

"Forgive him uncle. The young Gods couldn't possibly know..."

"The story had been told to them too, from the very fist day they were brought to the world, Goddess of Wisdom!" Poseidon thundered.

"Enough!" Zeus shouted, making the columns sustaining the lavishly adorned room shake a bit, calming the spirit faster than any other method one could think of.

"You are both right. They **should** know this details but on the other hand, a lot of time has passed since the birth of the last God...Hera...be kind and tell the story for me." he ordered, beckoning for the jumpy Goddess to rise.

She didn't protest. On an almost trembling voice she started:

"_Eons ago, when time itself was shaped differently and Zeus decided to end our father's bloody dominion, we engaged ourselves in what gradually seamed shape in the form of a never ending war against Chronos and his brothers, the mighty, undefeated Titans. _

_The battles lasted ten long years, in which, at least towards the end, the balance of victory finally started to incline more to our side then theirs. We were almost sure that the ending was near and that after unimaginably hard years of struggle and fear we were winning. That was at least until from the heart of darkness and chaos, my father found himself a new ally, one who could never know neither death nor oblivion, for he was born out of the ageless seed of nothingness...he had no beginning nor end, and he was ready to extend his dominion over what had slowly started to turn into the mortal realm. _

_He swore to help Chronos defeat us and make him King of all Gods for eternity with the one condition to break the spell that was bound to keep him locked beneath the indestructible gates of the sky where Uranus himself had chained him. _

_Despite the Titan's warnings and mistrust, father accepted, and freed the one who had granted him absolute power and greateness. A mistake that he soon lived to regret for, the instant he did it, Dahok forgot all about his vow, turning his weapons against both them and us, with a force that was threatening to squash us all like insects. _

_We couldn't face him alone. Consequently, Zeus asked for the help of the Cyclops who had freed from the Pits of Tartarus where they have been caged by Uranus from the beginning of time, and with their support, along with Metis and Rhea's precious advise and charms, Zeus managed to defeat the Titans and create an alternate world in which he forcefully pushed Dahok through a gate that was to be forever sealed until the end of the world." _

"It seams to me that he could have used a stronger lock" Ares muttered again, making Aphrodite giggle softly.

Right out of nowhere, a distressing murmur broke the silence. They had all understood the implacable fate awaiting them if the God weren't stopped in time.

" A battle will be fought in order to keep the age of darkness fall upon the mortal and immortal lands or we will be all history along with the rest of humanity. There is no other way..." Zeus continued, raising from his throne and casting a long gaze upon the rest of the Gods. He seamed cold and ruthless as usual but both Ares and Athena could easily read that subtle shade of fatigue and concern in his eyes...

He was getting too old for the job

"Do you have a plan brother?"Poseidon interrogated, eying him curiously.

"Do we stand any chance against that big bad monster?" the Love Goddess cut in though before her father could even open his mouth. "What will happen to my temples?"

"Well for starters" Ares replied laughing, there will be no more temples for you to stuff those ridiculous pink couches and carpets and dresses into. No more worshipers because they will all be dead. Uncle Hades will most likely be the only survivor. So you could as well start packing and move to Tartarus, choose the best room available...It will soon be the safest place on the planet, I guarantee it"

And while the outraged Love Goddess opened her mouth to start telling Ares everything she had on her mind about his lousy comment, Zeus' lightening bolt passed right between them, inches from the Goddess' face and her brother's chest, much to Athena's satisfaction.

They were both in shock.

"That was close" Ares whispered turning around to face Zeus.

"It is all your fault!" Aphrodite replied smacking him as hard as she could, irritated by the possibility of having her dress turn into a crisp because off her big brother's stupid remarks.

"Now...where were we?" the Olympian King restarted, staring from the two brothers to the lightening bolt in his hand and back. "We obviously can't do this alone. We need to form an alliance. And given the fact that all the world's fate is at stake, this pretty much involves the other Pantheons as well."

"What do you have in mind, Zeus? Who could we trust?" Hades asked hastily, obviously doubting the fairness of his brother's decision "We were at war with most of them and **some of us** still have unresolved business with more than a few" he stated, clearly emphasizing the "some of us" part, throwing a particularly nasty look Ares' way.

Ares didn't say anything, he just took a deep breath and tried to restrain his rage, aware that Zeus was definitely in no mood for live action shows.

"Well I guess that they'll just have to find a way to come up with a proper , diplomatic closure to those problems, don't they, now?" Zeus replied, he himself glaring at the War god implyingly.

Athena couldn't help grinning mischievously.

"Who can we count on father?" she inquired yoo, pushing her father for an answer.

"First of all, you will have to deliver the message of Dahoks' arrival to the other Pantheons. Tell them what we know and convince them to join us. There will be a meeting in three days' time in the Golden Room up on Olympus, and they would better be here, ready to discuss the conditions of our future partnership and the tasks that each one of them will be given. **To refuse is to die**, make sure that they understand the meaning of that phrase. "

Suddenly there was a moment of heavy, awkward silence again, giving the fact that almost everyone in the room was aware that not all the other Gods had a high enough respect for the "Don't kill the messenger" phrase as to respect. They were not safe that much was obvious, especially when they were forced to deliver such type of unpleasant and concise message.

Zeus didn't seam to care though.

"Athena and Appolo" you will go to the Norselands, and you will talk to Odin. Make sure to remind him that he still owes me one. He'll know what you mean"

"Yes father" they both reply bowing their heads respectfully.

"Demeter and Aphrodite, you are to convince Alator of the Celts that it is for the best if we burry the hatchet of war at least for awhile. Use your charm, make an impression, bring him to me."

Both of the Goddesses smiled courteously and agreed.

"Hera and Hephaestus " cross the Nile, go to the Egyptian lands of the pharaohs. Find Isis and Osiris , let them know that her knowledge of the underground would be indispensable."

They both vanished instantly in a shower of red light, unlike the others, understanding perfectly that the task they had to accomplish was by far a difficult one and that every second wasted could bring them closer to their doom.

"Hermes and Persephone, you shall head to the Indus where you will talk to Shiva, Vishnu and Kali. If everything goes well they will be our strongest allies since their Pantheon is amongst the most consistent in the world"

As if pondering over a hard decision that he had to make, Zeus stopped talking for a moment. Then his attention was diverted towards a highly pensive God of War.

"Ares, who would you trust the most? Zamolxes of the Thracian tribes or Marduk of Babilonia? "

"Neither. But Zamolxis is definitely closer to the problem. Strategically he would consider Dahok more of a threat than Marduk on the other part of the globe would."

"Fine. " the King answered pleased with his son's judgement. "Zamolxis it is then. Artemis, take Hestia with you and promise him peace for eons to come in exchange of his help"

"Yes father!"

"All the rest of you will stand close by, just in case that the unavoidable happens faster than it has been predicted, We will have to protect Olympus from the upcoming attacks. You are not allowed to cross the borders of Greece during the following days , have I made myself understood?"

The Gods subtly acknowledged their Olympian King's order and one by one, they vanished from the throne room.

"Ares! We need to talk!" his voice reverberated once again throughout the resonant marble quarters.

Surprised by his father's unexpected line, the God headed towards Zeus' throne closing in the distance between them.

In less than a blink they vanished, just to appear second later in Zeus' personal chambers.

"Walls have years you know" he uttered motivating their sudden departure.

"Yeah, I know what you mean" the War God added. "What can I do for you?"

"I need your help, son"

"My help." Ares repeated automatically, contemplating Zeus quizzically." So now you want my help...Is Hercules off on vacation and can't be bothered or something?" he growled irritated by his father behavior.

"Cut it out Ares, this is definitely not the moment! Hercules is not half as manipulative, immoral and clever as you are or I would have used him!"

"Well gee Dad, thanks for the vote of confidence!" .

"It wasn't meant to be a compliment, either!" Zeus yelled uncontrollably.

"It wasn't?" Ares replied mockingly, displaying a theatrically surprise figure meant to drive his old man up the wall.

"Don't play dumb with me boy! Your life is on the stake too. If Dahok enters the world again, you can call yourself lucky if you still live to keep your air headed sister company in Tartarus!"

Ares swallowed hard. Zeus was right and he knew it...

"What do you want me to do...?"

"I don't think we still have three days...He's almost here, I can feel him...I need you to create a diversion...If there's anyone here capable of pulling a good enough stunt to delay him, that's you..."

Ares hesitated a little. That was the closest thing to a decent appreciation his father had ever given him.

"That's why you kept Poseidon and Hades close by..." he murmured to himself, his brain finally putting the puzzle together. "Just give me a few hours...I'll think of something..."

"We don't have much time Ares...The **mortal **realm will be the first to fall." Zeus added, stressing the word that he knew in his son's mind held a very special meaning

In return, Ares just gave him a cold, steely gaze before turning his back at him and vanishing from Olympus, cursing his father's nerve to suggest what he knew so well he had been implying.

Within seconds, he was in the Halls of War, watching through a portal his sleeping Princess. It was almost sunrise. She would be up soon...


	3. A great way to start the day

**3 A GREAT WAY TO START THE DAY**

As if obeying the orders of some commanding, invisible force, Xena opened her eyes instantly, holding her breath for a few seconds. The sun had just risen and was casting a warm, delicate glow on her face but that was definitely not what had pulled her out of her dreamscape. No...it was that old familiar tingle traveling up and down her spine, giving her the shivers even in her sleep, and that awkward feeling that one by one, her face , her breasts and her legs were on fire.

She didn't need any additional clues, she knew it immediately: it was him, watching her find her way back from Morpheus' sinuous labyrinths, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence.

Indescribably irritated by the fact that hardly had she opened her eyes and there he was, drooling over her as if he were some hungry doggy looking at his bone in the backyard, and obviously very much aware that besides that lascivious gaze in his stunningly captivating eyes she would be forced to face some Zeus knew what kind of smart lines that he must have been chewing out during those past few minutes , she simply decided that ignoring him completely would grant her the best chances to a calm, lovely morning.

Therefore, pretending that he wasn't even there, and suddenly closing her eyes again, determined to go back to sleep for at least one more hour, the cranky Warrior Princess pulled the blanket over her head and, turning her back at the highly bemused War God she just tried to relax her body, ready to leave her mind drift towards the surreal world of colorful dreams and illusions.

Ares' low chuckle as the blanket covering her luscious body magically vanished, only managed to irritate her even more though, and she would have jumped to her feet and slashed him to pieces then and there thus dissipating all that unpleasant tension that had began building up inside her muscles, but, with a superhuman force she successfully controlled her undeniable urge and decided that giving him the brush was still the best policy for the time being.

Seeing her reaction, the God couldn't have suppressed that wide naughty boy grin from stretching from one ear to the other not even if he had wanted to. In his rulebook, her defy was definitely a pretty explicit challenge. A game of "**Who cracks first**". His all time favorite. How could he refuse?

"_Oh I'm going to enjoyyyyyy this!" _he said to himself while with a wave of his hand he changed Xena's way too comfortable black nightshift, into a short, tight dark red lace nightdress, as fine and transparent as a cobweb, that, the minute it materialized on her body managed to highlight her every curve in such a wonderful and surprising way, that Ares was unable to hold back a loud, wanting "Whoa!"

He did bite his lips in the process, but it was too late. The appreciative exclamation had already left his mouth, nothing more to be done about that one...

And as angry as she was, the Warrior Princess couldn't help giggling softly, imagining that unique expression that she could bet it had already been painted on his gorgeous visage..

"Ok, War God, you've been asking for it!"Xena murmured lowly, rolling onto her back again, slightly arching it so that her eternal stalker could have a perfectly fine view of her breasts, and, using her right arm as a pillow, she tilted her head to the side, making sure to keep her eyes shut, despite the consuming curiosity to get a glimpse of his face and enjoy the first one on one victory of that day.

Viciously gripping the trunk of the tree next to which he was standing, Ares's mouth almost fell to the floor at the sight of his irresistibly sexy Princess, laying temptingly like that on her bedroll, and, as the drumming of his heart started to reach impossible sound levels, the bright flash of a very erotic idea passed like a lightening bolt through that twisted imagination of his.

"_You should have known who you're messing with by now, sweetheawrt!" _the thought echoed inside his mind, as with another slow wave of his hand, he began casting an intense read glow on the surface of her alluring physique, a special kind of light that he later on started controlling with his eyes...One of the many attributes he could make use of as a God.

And right when she was about to mentally congratulate herself for the clean, irrefutable triumph, she suddenly felt it... a strange unprecedented sensation of a thousand hands roaming teasingly slow and then gradually more and more demanding up and down her body, caressing the surface of her skin with a suavity that surpassed any imagination, resuscitating inside her every hidden desire and passion, making her fingers spread involuntarily the instant an unexpected wave of heat immerged from the very depths of her core, heading with the speed of an arrow downwards, towards her center.

Despite herself she gasped audibly a second later.

She didn't move one inch though, adamant about regaining control over her body and showing that sleezy Bastard that he had been overestimating the power he thought he had over her all along, and that there was no way in Tartarus she was ever going to let him win this. In the meantime, her busy mind was doing tremendous efforts to concentrate and to start searching for an effective strategy to cleverly counterattack and blast his plan to pieces.

There had to be something...there always was...it was just that during that very moment, her mind was racing in a totally different direction and now, as an entirely new sensation- of her nipples being expertly licked, rubbed and and gently bitten-accelerated her pulse, she seamed to want nothing more from life than to give in that out of that world pleasure she was experiencing.

Just a few feet away, entranced about the amazing sight of her flushed face and tense jaw, Ares was himself even more aroused than she was, giving the fact that making love to her through their bond like that, pretty much had the same effect on him.

By now, her own arousal which was now being clearly confirmed by the continuous vibrations from her aura, was already intoxicating his blood as if he had taken several shots of heroine in a row...he was ecstatic, and the amplifying need that was consuming her as his gaze changed it's focus on her crotch was driving him wild.

It was quite funny actually, he couldn't help thinking. Though it had started like a game of mind control that he knew he would win anyway despite her efforts to oppose him, he was inevitably slipping into his own trap, his throbbing erection letting him know that he wasn't in fact in a better position that she was.

He had been right about one thing though: he was enjoying it to the maximum.

And though watching her , for any other spectator she would have looked just like some exotic beauty sound asleep, he knew better...the way too short distance in between her breaths along with her lustfully parted lips were giving him all the information he needed: she was loosing ground.

One more persistent look towards her sexy, swollen breasts and he could see the visibly hardened nipples pushing against the delicate fabric of the nightdress. Another one back to her thighs and, as if at command, her back arched unquestiobably upwards.

Pleased with the result of his actions, Ares couldn't help grinning widely the moment his brain projected a priceless image with the irritating blond's shocked figure when his Princess' uncontainable whimpers would wake her up with a jolt...If that secondary motive weren't worth the effort than nothing could...

Slowly moisturizing his lips again, and tightening the hold on that tree, he closed his eyes just like hers were, and , still picturing her stimulated body aching to feel more, and directing that intense glow above her crotch, he imagined a deep, powerful thrust inside her. She instantly let out an overwhelmingly erotic moan on the background- the notes in her voice alone could definitely drive him insane.

It was fantastic, and he could sense it all: her inner muscles contracting frantically, clutching despite her will around something that wasn't even there, moisture dripping down her thighs, burning like lava...

..._"By Zeus himself you feel so good" _he couldn't help murmuring to her through their bond as the intensity of his virtual thrusts gradually grew along with their depth, and, as her fingers dug firmly into the bedroll and the entire upper part of her body rose up in a powerful convulsion, he finally felt it...the sharp blade of her chackram stuck in that immortal neck of his, sectioning his jugular.

"_Oh come on Xe! You gotta be kidding!"_ the God yelled disappointedly inside her mind, careful not to wake up the Bard , an obvious expression of frustration expertly drawn- in full detail too- all over his face.

Inhaling deeply and trying to regain his composure he further inquired shaking his head disapprovingly: _" Couldn't you at least have waited a couple of seconds more?" _

Staring at his clever Princess reproachfully, he brutally removed the round weapon from his neck, casually caressing the already healed incision to make the scar go away.

"_Sorry Ares, I've already had my share of fun" _she replied in a very satisfied voice, turning on her stomach while she kept on casting a long, very explicit gaze towards his still fully erect cock, giving him a mischievous grin in return.

"_You are sooooo eveil, I swear it! " _he answered in mocking disbelief the minute she intentionally lifted her illegally perfect shaped ass from the ground a few more inches, just to spite him, but the large smile on his lips told her otherwise.

Seeing that lecherous look in his eyes and contemplating the huge budge in his pants for a couple of seconds more, Xena couldn't help retorting, almost bursting into laughter in the process at the entire situation:

"_Need any help there, or you can handle it alone?" _

"_That was cruel!...Even for you" _the God playfully pouted at her obscene insinuation. _"Inhuman actually ... but yeah, I could definitely use some help..." _he added challengingly, tilting his head to the side as his eyes seamed to have stuck on that porn star ass of hers.

"_Do you now...?"_ she asked seductively, swinging her legs lazily and stretching her arms forward as if she had no care in the world. _"And just what would you like me to do My Lord?" _the question sliced the air in perfect tune with that unbelievably vulgar shade passing on the surface of her cerulean irides.

Ares didn't bother answering her rather rhetorical question this time, he just threw her the dirtiest look he was able to produce, undressing her completely with a brief wave of his hand, motioning her to come to him.

Chuckling softly for a few moments, it was the Warrior Princess's turn to shake her head in disbelief...It was amazing the nerve that the self assured Son of a Bachae had in him...and still, despite the savage impulse to just grab a rock and throw it straight to his head, she couldn't deny the fact that his bad boy charm was absolutely irresistible.

One more glance at him through her long raven tresses, was all it took, and, propping herself up on one elbow, she just gave him a wicked smile before gracefully extending a hand for him to grab.

Not wanting to make her wait, despite the fact that he was still unsure weather she was serious about it or if it was all just a sequel of their game, obviously aware that it was quite likely for her to just strain the point and make a mock out of his overconfidence, snubbing him properly, the proud God of War wisely considered that she was worth all risks, and ,slowly closing in the distance between them, he kneeled curteously before her, placing an elegant, respectful kiss on the back of her hand.

Watching her every gesture, extremely cautious not to misinterpret it, he did nothing else, as if waiting for some kind of confirmation from her behalf.

When he noticed that warm , rare , genuine smile embellishing her goddess like features though, he just couldn't stand it anymore, and, gently caressing her cheek at first, his fingers finally glided into her hair, pulling her into an almost violent kiss, crushing her mouth with his own...When the kiss broke they were in the Halls of War, laying on top of a white fur with him whispering sweetly against her ear:

"I've missed you ..."


	4. Tiny problem

**4 TINY PROBLEM**

**XXX**_ I DEDICATE THIS CHAPTER AND ALL THE STORY FOR THAT MATTER TO MY SWEET NO 1 FAN, **LADY AUGUSTIN**._**_ Love you to pieces girl, You're the best XXX_**

About two hours later, an almost exhausted War God was holding his Princess so tight to his chest that one might have surely thought that ever letting her escape from the chain like grasp of his arms was out of the question till the end of eternity.

Her eyes were closed, but she was not sleeping, he could easily tell it. Her heartbeats were still far too irregular, the speed with which the blood was flowing throughout her veins being by far not the usual one, and, the depth of her breaths was visibly the one of a person struggling to relax their body.

What she was desperately trying to do in fact was to cunningly avoid any type of conversation, one should have been blind not to see it.

For a brief, insignificant moment that seamed like forever in his mind though, Ares cast one more glance towards her exquisite but visibly tensed features before placing a subtle, evanescent kiss at the base of her neck, making sure to inhale that sweet overwhelming freshness of her skin on the surface of which, the highly intriguing notes of tuberose and orange blossom had began to mix with his light musk and cedar cologne...

He smiled bitterly...the mere scent of her skin had the surreal power to intoxicate his senses to such extent, that he couldn't even bare to count, the number of occasions on which he was literally forced to vanish in the middle of their conversations, giving her no explanation what so ever, just because he felt that it was but a matter of seconds before, unable to restrain his inflamed passion he would have left her the choice of either make love to him or live with memory of him having forced himself upon her...And since with the second option he was the one who couldn't live, he had preferred to take off instantly and, in exchange, as some sort of generosity bonus, screw a couple of love stricken priestesses that would have begged on their knees for his attention if he had wanted them too, anyway.

It was aching like Tartarus, his heart...stinging, burning and bleeding at the same time.

Getting to feel her close like that, and knowing that it was all there was to it, genuinely made him wanna howl at the moon like some crazy, unsatisfied maniac.

He loved her. He was in love with her like he had never dreamt of being in love with anyone in his entire immortal life, she was the only thing he had ever cared about in eons of existence, and, despite the useless nobility of his feelings, he couldn't even tell her how much she meant to him without being given in return such a poisonous gaze that would have expertly reminded him about every single mistake he had done during their wild, intricate relationship from day one till the freaking present, in less than a blink...

And still, he couldn't bare the idea of ever loosing her... they both knew it: he was willing to leave her a leash as long as the distance between the Earth and the Moon and back, allow her play the popular hero and help even the last filthy peasant on the planet, save the world, mess up with his plans, crush his armies, curse his name, he could even pretend that they were over ... whatever ...but she belonged to him. That was as clear as daylight.

Closing his eyes for a second, the distant words that he had yelled in her face the night she left him and his ways, choosing light over darkness and good over what she back then called "evil", as his hands were still gripped lethally around her neck, chocking her to death, echoed disturbingly inside his mind :

"_You pledged yourself to me, Gods damn it! And you did it willingly, in front of the Fates! You are my Chosen! You are bound to me, and I swear it on Styx Xena, I would rather rip you to pieces then let you go, do you understand me?" _

Now, looking at her lying lazily next to him, her head resting casually on his chest, vulnerable like that, he couldn't help thinking that those venomous phrases had been in fact meaningless: she was his anyway...she loved him too, she had always loved him...and hear soul actually felt like being ripped to pieces, each time they made love and she had to leave, fighting with her self, with her conscious, with the painful images of their past haunting her...

Tenderly caressing her hair he whispered lowly against her ear:

"What's on your mind, Luv?"

"_Luv..." _she couldn't help repeat it silently, the word drilling unavoidably a hole as big as the Mediterranean through her heart.

Despite herself, she found the task to control the light frown described by her dark, perfectly traced eye brows absolutely impossible...It was always the same: the unbearable desire to be with him, to feel him, to be in his presence, to sense that she still meant the world to him and that his love for her hadn't diminished...the crushing longing for what they had and lost...all this opposed to the manipulations, deceptions, games, challenges and inflicted wounds...the changes, the different goals and perspective on life...

His voice was driving her crazy...so caring and smooth...And though it was the same voice that had cruelly stabbed her straight in the heart each time things didn't went according to plan-his plan...

She hardly suppressed a sigh, and replied on a cold, almost business like voice, staring at him almost blankly:

"This doesn't change anything, Ares..."

Smiling boyishly, he just placed a gentle kiss on her lips before answering on the most hilarious Aphrodite like tone he was able to come up with, trying to lighten up the mood:

" What ever do you mean Xena? Are you telling me that we're not getting married any more? How on earth are we going to tell this to Zeus? And Hera...she had already planed the perfect honeymoon for us in Babylon!"

With all her seriousness, the Warrior Princess burst into laughter instantly, but still managed to inquire seconds later, a quizzical expression on her face:

"Babylon? Why Babylon out of all places?"

The God arched thoughtfully an eyebrow while his brain was processing the answer.

"Well...you know...good food, interesting culture...**different...landscape**" he answered, stressing the last two words, making Xena smack him over the had playfully:

"Different landscape huh...and would the sexy belly dancers be part of that landscape, by any chance...?."

"Well..." he continued, grinning widely at the thought "...there should be a few for you to see..."

"For **me **to see?!" she bit back narrowing her eyes implyingly.

"Yeah...you know, you could learn a trick or two, since I distinctly remember you had some issues when it came to dancing..."

"What are you talking about? I have no problems what so ever with moving my body to the music..." she indignantly sat up, obviously in total disagree with his statement.

It had always amazed her the tact in which he could so easily turn a matter around and make her focus on an entirely different thing with the speed of sound, getting himself out of the spotlight.

"Right..." he mockingly stated, staring at the elegantly adorned walls of the room.

"Oh...ok...I get it..." she started on a glorious tone the moment she began to see past his clever strategy. "So I suppose this is the part in which I should generously offer to perform some kind of artistic number in order to convince your otherwise, War God ?"

"Well, I did hear some gibberish regarding your **many skills** a couple of days before. Can't blame a man for being curious...But on the other hand I'm pretty sure that they weren't referring to any type of artistic activities..." the God added, looking down at her breasts.

"Funny that." Xena replied, wanting nothing more than to wipe that irking smile off his face. ".Anyway... curiosity killed the cat, Ares..." she whispered bewitchingly against his lips.

" It's said that cats have nine lives, sweetheart..." he whispered back, brushing his lips against hers, but refusing to move any further.

"What's the use if they're split in five pieces...?"

The following second, her fiery tongue was demandingly searching for his own and soon, he pulled her beneath him with so much eagerness as if that would have been their first time ever.

This time though, Xena broke the kiss in the end and pushed him gently aside, suppressing the smile that threatened to lighten her face again when Ares pouted theatrically.

"Are you planning on taking advantage of me all day long, War God?"

The pout rapidly turned into a one million dinar grin:

"I think what you actually meant to say was **"all eternity long",** right?"

As he ended his sentence though they were both silent as his sagaciously stressed words resulted into more than just an deafening echo inside both of their minds, only managing to rub some more salt on many of the still opened wounds.

"I guess that was a poor choice of words..." he finally added, clumsily trying to camouflage the distinct discomfort on his features.

"You're no Demostene, I give you that...Is Gabrielle up yet?" she finally inquired, breaking their gaze.

Ares cleared his voice, despite of the fact that he wasn't planning on saying anything. He knew that regardless of his answer, she was going to leave anyway.

With a slow, languid gesture, he opened up a portal showing a sound asleep, snoring Bard. He couldn't help adding devilishly:

"By the bones of Chronos himself, I swear that with that roaring she could even keep Cerberus away!"

In exchange he received another smack, over the chest this time.

They both sneered at the same time, each one disapproving the other one's actions.

"I should get going. I need to get some breakfast before Gabrielle wakes up" she uttered lowly

With a wave of his hand, the God made appear but feet away from the last night's campfire an entire feast of roast duck, deer, various types of cheese, fruits and wine.

"This will keep her busy for a few more hours...Stay..." he murmured wistfully, on an almost broke tonality, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her heart was starting to break again...she could already feel the cracks...

Leaning into his caress, she just placed a sweet, affectionate kiss on his palm, without daring to look him in the eyes.

"...I can't...You know I can't...Plus...saving the world from evil is kind of a full time job. It includes mornings too"

Her line came like a vicious slap across the face. His blood froze...Dahok...How in the world would he tell her about him now, without having her believe that everything that had happened between them that morning was in fact one of his sick methods of "talking her into" siding up with the Olympians?

It only took one brief gaze for Xena too see that shade of terror passing through his mesmerizing brown eyes. She arched an eyebrow in surprise...the words terror and War God didn't actually go hand in hand...

"What's with that look?" she questioned as his little grey cells enetered in automatic alert mood.

"What look?" he defensively inquired, still unsure about what to do.

"Don't play dumb with me. It doesn't suit you as much as I would like it too."

He eyed her warily.

"Start talking" she concluded on that low, menacing tone that Ares knew far too well. Messing with her then was definitely out of the question...

Swallowing hard he took the bit between his teeth and answered, keeping his gaze fixed on some invisible point from the other side of the room:

"We might have this tiny problem...to deal with..."


	5. Now we can talk properly

**5 NOW WE CAN TALK PROPERLY**

"We might have this tiny problem...to deal with..."

Xena eyed him furiously, biting ferociously her lower lip in what appeared to be some sort of attempt to control her anger. She hated being left in the dark, and more than that, she hated being manipulated...And yes, in her mind, Ares' as rare as an Amazon in love with a Cenatur **"tiny problem"** choice of words, held by far a deeper significance than what he had originally intended to reveal to her.

"**We?" **she stressed, crawling into his lap and firmly straddling his hips, while making sure that in the process her **"you are a dead God"** gaze pretty much stripped all that basically unbelievably sexy action of it's seductive nature and concept.

"You mean **"we"** like "you and I", **we**?" she continued on such an intimidating tone that Ares, whose grin had irremediably frozen on his lips about a minute before, felt the overwhelming need to lean back a little bit, propping his arms behind him as if defensively wanting to put some distance between the ready to kill someone Warrior Princess and himself.

Swallowing hard again, for the second time since he had opened this conversation, he tried to keep his gaze fixed on her eyes, but failed miserably when he noticed the invisible knifes and arrows she was throwing him from the infinite depth of their beryl surface.. She was outraged, and though she didn't know yet why, he was aware that she had all the reasons in the world to be...They should have talked first, he shouldn't have let things go so far without letting her know what was happening...He was in sooo much trouble that he could even smell it.

"Yeah...definiyely that kind of **"we" **" he replied, trying not to sound too stressed about the whole situation.

Leaning forward, on top of him as if she were a lioness ready to jump at his throat and take a huge bite out of it, Xena forced the God of War to prop himself on his elbows now, and if the grave tone in her following phrase didn't give him the shivers, than nothing else ever did.

"You didn't get me **pregnant,** did you? "

"What...?" Ares barely began to exclaim before she cut him off.

"Because if you did, Ares I swear it on all Gods and Goddesses , this child is going to be fatherless, cause I WILL KILL YOU!" she threatened her right hand gripping viciously his chin.

"What are you talking about? I would never do that without asking you first, are you crazy?! How could you even think that?"" he barked back irritated by her obvious lack of confidence in him.

Her answer didn't take long . And it was meant to sting too, which it did, naturally.

"Can you blame me? It's not like you're the worldwide symbol of honesty and principles, ok? I definitely haven't seen any of your statues wearing white togas or has that changed over the last few years without me knowing about it?!"

"**Honesty** and **common sense** have nothing to do with one another, oh Angelic One!"

"Yeah, I bet that in your rulebook they are probably as different as day and night, right?" Xena retorted sarcastically.

Ares rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why are we even fighting about this? You're not pregnant ok? At least not with me!"

"Are you calling me a slut now?!" she thundered, letting go of his chin and planting her hands on her hips in return.

It was the God's turn to get pissed. He couldn't stand that nasty habit of hers of always twisting his words around like that to suit her purpose.

"When did I ever do that?"

And right when the fuming Warrior Princess was about to start her endless array of sentences, he raised a hand silencing her.

"Dahok."

Her expression changed in less than a second.

"What about him?" she inquired, totally dazzled by his statement.

"It seams that's he's planning quite a grandiose return. And pretty soon too. Greece is the gateway. The world of the mortals is the first to fall. At least that's what his busy agenda apparently says, according to Zeus and Hades...".

For quite a long moment, Xena was speechless. Then she barked with disgust:

"And let me guess...you're telling me all this because you need me to save your precious Olympian butts, right? Well forget it Ares! I'm not interested in taking part in your sick game of thrones, you know! As far as I'm concerned, Zeus and all your ever so lovely siblings can pack their bags and move to Tartarus if they're that incapable of watching their backs! As for you, you're a big boy. You can take care of yourself, I'm sure. You don't need me to babysit you"

The God burst into laughter.

"Would you belive me if I told you that's the same thing I told Aphrodite this morning? I guess it's true after all, Xe. Great minds do think alike."

"If we thought alike Ares, you would have gotten out of my sight by now!"

"Gee Princess...do I sense hostility in your voice by any chance? I can't help wondering if you'll still feel the same when a certain blondie will become the bearer of Dahok's Six Destroyers...I've heard rumours about a certain legend saying that in order to be the absolute ruler of the Universe yadda yadda yadda, he needs a vessel to use...Now let us see...if you were in his shoes, who would you choose...I don't wanna jinx here, but, my money are on...?"

"Gabrielle..." she whispered lowly, as the heavy chain of consequences suddenly wrapped around her heart.

"Score one for the Warrior Princess! But trust me Hun, the irritating Blondie should be the least of your concerns, given the fact that she's probably quite experienced by now- having already been a Mom and all...Plus...when our dark friend will start soaking the face of the earth in blood ...I don't know..."

"You heartless Bastard! You have no idea what she's been through during these past two years!" she yelled in his face , pushing him full force to the ground with a blind fury that she usually reserved to Caesar alone.

"No I don't...Well...let's just say that, speaking for myself, she's far too insignificant for me to actually bother hard enough to lend an ear to Aphrodite's daily gossip related to her persona. If you ask me, she would feel much more comfortable in some blind Cyclops' stomach..."

"Are you suicidal?" she hissed through clenched teeth the second after.

"Care to elaborate?" he sneered provokingly, arching an eyebrow, her obvious affection for the meddling Bard which from his point of view was the source of all his problems, bothering him more then he would have ever been willing to admit.

For the Warrior Princess, that was indisputably the last drop. Had she had the power to kill Gods, she would have sliced him to pieces then and there.

In the meantime, she reached the conclusion that a sonorous dash directed in the pit of his stomach followed by a wicked left jab should both effectively stop his useless blabbering and teach him a lesson.

She didn't manage to carry the plan through though, since, hardly had her balled up fist collided with his stern, that, grabbing a hold of her hand, before she even realized what was happening he was already twisting her arm with a force capable of breaking it into two like a toothpick had he wanted too, and, hooking her waist firmly with a strong tug he turned her around placing her on her knees, face down, her long bronze legs wide apart, still trapped on each side of his waist.

Too make things even more dramatic for her, before the idea of even trying to rise with a powerful yank and punch him backwards crossed her mind, the God had already wrapped her long silky hair around his fist and pulled her brutally upwards, her back slamming loudly against his chest, the fresh sweat on their skin amplifying the sonority of the impact , while his other hand circled her waist instantly, applying such painful pressure on her stomach that any thought of attempting to move any time soon vanished from her mind the moment a loud moan of pain escaped her throat.

Pulling her even closer to him, impossibly close now, he gently placed a light kiss on the nape of her neck, and he could immediately feel, her body react to the touch of his lips. His warm breath seamed to have the same effect, for when it reached the surface of her velvety skin, tiny goosebumps appeared-right on time to betray her arousal, her entire body shivering imperceptibly at the contact.

The moment his fingers spread on the side of her waist, touching lightly the base of her left breast, he literally felt her holding her breath, her muscles tensing with anticipation.

As for him, he was rock hard by now, and her juices dripping languidly on his shaft weren't helping much the self control factor.

Despite the ravishing urge to just push her firmly to the ground and slam himself inside her as hard as he could, he managed to hold back the consuming desire to have her again, and, in return, he just pulled her hair even more vigorously , as if hurting her was the only way to make him feel at least partially satisfied.

"Let go of me, Ares!"

He paid her no mind though, and, when her temple reached the tip of his lips he just nibbled erotically her earlobe a couple of seconds, before whispering on a tone that was strangely enough both seductive and spine-chilling at the same time, ignoring completely her useless struggles to break free from his iron grasp, as he also did with her previous command.

" Will you stop struggling already? It will hurt less..."

The moment he noticed her change in attitude, sensing her muscle relax a bit, he eased his grasp on her, just a little bit, as to diminish the agonizing pressure on her stomach.

"Good girl. Now..." he continued, trailing a path of soft kisses from the back of her ear towards the nape of her neck again, expertly dodging the attempt of a backfist that he had been already expecting for a while now, and which for her only ended in a hardly restrained scream when his fingertips became individual points of pressure on her ribs, making her filch in pain in his lap, to his unspeakable satisfaction.

"How about we stop fooling around and we start talking properly?"

"Fine" she growled, obviously on the verge of exploding with rage and spite. "But let me go already."

Placing a bold, loud smooch on the top of her head as if wanting to tell her how much he would have liked to listen to his body and not to his mind for once and just pin her down that floor and make love to her until she would have begged for him to stop, he released her hair, waiting for her to rise.

And so she did, only to turn around with a skillfully executed pirouette, and smack him mercilessly straight in the head with her right foot, making his vision blur for a moment and causing his ears to buzz unpleasantly the moment his temple hit the ground.

"Now we can talk properly." she spitted out with contempt, watching him shake his head uncontrollably as he struggled to unglue his torso from the floor...


	6. Who's your daddy?

**6 WHO'S YOUR DADDY?**

"Now we can talk properly." she spitted with contempt, watching him shake his head uncontrollably as he struggled to unglue his torso from the floor...

His brain still throbbing on the beat of some unnatural reverberation that only he could hear inside his head, the War God almost missed Xena's line, her voice being but some faraway echo that, hardly had it reached his ears it already began dissipating before he could even catch the meaning of her words...But one thing he was sure of: it had been her voice indeed, the same melodious inflection that owned that unique ability of sounding like the lightest, softest breeze he could think of and like a raging, destructive tornado at the same time...

Almost a full minute after the degrading impact, the Olympian finally managed to stand, and, still pressing both palms hard on his temples in a vain attempt to stop the ceaseless noises still booming in there, he just cast Xena an accusing and obviously totally disapproving glance while struggling to connect the words accordingly to the execrable Greek syntactic rules:

"That was a little uncalled fo, wouldn't you say so?...Whoever taught you that move did a pretty decent job, though..." he added a shade of veiled pride glistening in his eyes.

"Yeah, what can I say? I did learn form the best, or so I thought until about one minute ago" she retorted caustically, barely mumbling the last part, but pretty sure that despite that horrible headache still bothering him, he could hear such type of stinging comment even if his skull had been separated from his body.

Taking a deep breath, Ares stubbornly refused to grant her the satisfaction of that neurotic, impetuous reaction that he would have normally displayed and which she was kinda hoping to get out of him, thus proclaiming her undeniable little victory in their intriguing but sometimes annoying mind control war that was still unfolding . In the end everything came to that: who out bested the other.

Instead, he just eyed her pensively, while a remarkably devilish grin stretched imperceptibly the corner of his lips...Had she watched him more carefully she couldn't have missed it, but the usually exceedingly focused Warrior Princess was way too busy that very moment with scanning the premises in search for her clothes , disturbed about what she had already sensed to be Ares' lustful gaze traveling up and down her perfectly sculpted body, more conscious than ever about her nakedness to pay any extra attention to the God's mimic.

In the meantime, the illegally handsome War God was contemplating her from head to toe, analyzing with amusement the obvious hastiness and edginess of her movements, taking mental notes on the exact level of discomfort that his persistent stare could induce her at times.

"What happened Ares? Cat ate your tongue?" she questioned coldly , casting him a glacial gaze the moment she realized that there were in fact no clothes for her too look for since her the highly imaginative God had taken care of that part the instant he decided that her short black silk night shift was not revealing everything it needed to, and that the almost invisible, tight nightdress would be much more adequate for what he had in mind...He did have a taste in feminine lingerie, Xena couldn't deny that even if she had wanted too...Taking into consideration the amount of women he had screwed across the ages, it was no wonder at all, as a matter of fact.

What irritated her the most though, had nothing to do with the damned clothes, but with the Bastard's out of this world's easiness: he was just standing there, in the middle of the room, wearing he himself nothing but his birthday suit, arms folded across his gorgeously worked out chest, every muscle from his body looking as it had been expertly sculpted by Lysippos' own hands , his cock almost fully erect again, and still, he felt absolutely no unease regarding the situation, on the contrary, he seamed to be as right as rain.

"Huh?" he inquired absently, his eyes still glued on the ravishing, voluptuous hips before him, licking his lips teasingly slow as his gaze shifted gradually upwards until it reached his Princess's exasperated stare.

"Are you like...lacking women during this time of the year,? Have your sluty priestesses vanished from the face of the earth, or what's wrong with you? There are still a various number of sporting houses for you to choose from, you know! " she snapped, taking a good look at his shaft and using the most derisive tone she could produce at the moment, trying to divert his attention towards something else besides her own body, while silently wondering herself what in Gaia's name could have been the reason for which she was actually feeling so vulnerable and exposed in front of him, since they had made love so many times in the past. Plus... she had no dissatisfactions what so ever regarding her own body, she looked at her best, there was not one ounce of fat underneath that skin- given her extremely diversified day and sometimes night job, that was understandable.. It couldn't have been otherwise

...It was probably just that awekward impression that each time he looked at her like that, he could see right through her, to the deapths of her soul, and there were definitely some long ago burried feelings that she didn't want him to know anything about...but that was something that she adamantly refused to think of those days.

"Not exactly..." came the God's seductively uttered reply. "It's not my fault that you're so freakin' sexy is it? I mean...look at you..." he ended, biting repeatedly his lower lip.

"You're such a sick, twisted, pervers! But I guess that I don't need to keep telling you that. "

"Just the way you like it! Gee! Quite a coincidence don't you think? I strongly believe that you could actually call it a blessing from the Fates" the God retorted, casting an arrogant, fugitive glance from his cock to her and back as the most self conceited type of grin ever seen on the planet showed up to illuminate his features.

Hardly suppressing her anger, and very much aware of the fact that if they fought now, he would just wipe the floor with her, any trace of focus that she still have left being directed towards controlling her eyes from lowering their sight anywhere below his waistline, Xena just closed her eyes for a few moments, slightly turning her head to the side as if trying to block everything that was taking place before her.

"Feeling tempted, Princess?" he asked, breaking up her serenity bubble in less than two seconds, arching his eyebrows while walking closer to her , carefully stopping midway though, aware that she had the most unpredictable nature he had ever seen in his life.

And, despite the barely suppressed desire to go ahead and serve him a properly recalcitrant line, Xena just smiled casually, a false smile that Ares recognized without problems, but a smile nonetheless.

"As much as I'd like to sit here and chat Ares, I need to get going. Gabrielle should be up by now and most likely looking for me, so if you don't mind...?" she responded briefly, her hand pointing towards her still naked body.

"Oh, I'm sorry" came the God's prompt reply while theatrically covering his mouth with the back of his hand, in some sort of fake timidity, meant to subtly let her know that he had noticed her distressful unease and abashment.

With a wave of his hand, he magically made her black night shift appear on the floor, just a couple of steps in front of her, despite the fact that he would have normally materialized it on her.

Ignoring his uncommon gesture and heading towards the silken item, the Warrior Princess could have sworn that he was about to make a move on her or something when she bent to pick it up, each one of her senses completely alert at his slightest flinch.

To her much surprise, he didn't do anything else besides leaning back against a pillar and drinking in the image of the fine material gliding down her body.

He couldn't hold back a loud gasp. This woman was driving him insane with her grace and beauty. In his eyes she was the embodiment of ultimate perfection and that deadly glare visibly displayed in her splendid moons only made her even more attractive and irresistible. Even the most insignificant of her moves looked like a fundamental part of an elegant dance routine...he knew that if he were allowed, he would have stopped the flowing of time by then, and just look at her indefinitely

"Are you gonna stand there all day long and watch me? Next thing I know you'll be building me statues! Oh wait! You've already done that too!" she snapped again as if she had been reading his thoughts, throwing a pillow at him, waking him up from his reverie.

"...Just waiting for you to get dressed so that we can leave..." he uttered on a casual tone, his face more serious than she had ever seen it, nothing in his tone indicating the fact that he was kidding, and, right when she was on the point of exploding with fury and unspeakable frustration, ready to yell at him from the top of her lungs, Xena actually noticed that she was naked again and that her silken shift was still there, a couple of feet in front of her.

That was it. Enough with the games. She was boiling mad. So mad that she could feel the blood invading her brain twice as fast as the usual speed.

"Ares, I swear it my life...!"

"What? You'll do what, Xena?!" he questioned through clenched teeth, signaling for her to attack, openly challenging her to give him her best shot. "C'mon..."'

Hardly had he finished his phrase, that the old routine was on again, and, as the God was gradually setting the bar higher and higher, turning their confrontation in an absolutely rare display of strength, ability and tactics, the sonorous high kicks, parries rough tugs, flips and pirouettes suddenly turned for Xena from just an easy method to get rid of all the bottled up anger and frustration into a real skill test which had a a supreme goal to show the ever so cocky War God that she was the wrong person to mess with.

Unfortunately for her though, the God of War had already established a goal of his own : the one of showing his brash Chosen that respecting her mentor was as important as practicing what she had been thought.

Consequently, not once had Xena managed to break Ares' defenses, and way before she began feeling the fatigue slowly invading her muscles, she could foresee the outcome. He was playing her like a marionette, and from the outside it would have seam that she was just executing the precise moves that he wanted her to, as if during some kind of ordinary training exercise.

On the other hand, she had stood her ground remarkably well, and the God almost seamed like having trouble with finding a proper opening, her reactions being similarly close to his own.

Still, minutes later after the fight started, as she cunningly tried to execute a flip with the aim of surprising the God and cunningly hitting him backwards, anticipating her move, Ares flipped at the same time, and while they were still in the air, with a precisely executed strike, he hit her stomach full force, making her landing shorten considerably.

The following kicks came soon after, when she reached the ground, one loud blow aimed to her head, one to her knees and the other one, full of rancour and out of control eagerness to teach her a lesson, at the center of her back, sending her to the ground with such an unexpected force that, at the moment of the impact the sound of her body slamming against the floor almost scared him.

Seeing that she was still moving, he couldn't help bragging about his indisputable victory, though. He had been waited for it all morning long.

"Who's your daddy, baby? Come on, I wanna hear you say it!"

Nonetheless, his voice broke the instant he heard her agonizing whimper as she tried to rise from the ground, her entire body shaking in pain.

As if having instantly realized just how much power he had put in those strikes, the God extended a hand to touch her, to help her get up but he didn't actually dare to, and when she finally did manage to do it, and her long dark tresses were out of her face, he instantly froze.

Stretching from the corner of her right eye till the lower center of her cheek, there was a large, round, inky blemish covering the entire area. He was flabbergasted.

When she looked at him, her gaze was blank, almost absent:

"Nice move" she whispered faintly.

Her words sliced deeper than a Japanese Katana.

"Are...are you ok, Xe? I...I din't mean to...I mean..."

"I'm fine. Just take me to Gabrielle, will you? " she retorted without breaking their gaze, her arms tightly enfolded around her waist, right beneath her breasts.

Nodding curtly, his every move as automatic as the one of a first generation robot, Ares immediately materialized that accursed shift on her, and offered her his hand.

For a very long time since they first met, she hesitated.

Swallowing hard, he just closed in the distance between them, and, softly touching her cheek, he let a yellow light flow from his hand, making the blemish vanish as if it had never been there.

She didn't say anything, only lowered her gaze slightly, her face still impassible and cold.

The moment he wrapped his arms around her, numbing the sufferance draining the rest of her body, healing whatever there was to heal, he sensed her flinch though, a small frown of her eyebrows making him silently wonder if she was still in pain or not.

Seconds later, they were close to camp. He could hear the irritating blond calling her name.

"Princess...I'm..."

She glanced at him musingly, a shade of vague dissapointment and utter frigidity in her eyes before darting a longer look towards his balled up fists.. He didn't have the nerve to go on. Kicking her while she was still down had been low, even for him.

She just turned around and left.

"I'm sorry..." he trailed off, a sad, regretfull expression written all over his face.

Inhaling deeply,the God closed his eyes before vanishing to the Halls of War again... Somehow, he always found a way to screw things up...he shouldn't have acted like a dumb-ass...the Dahok problem was still unsolved.


	7. Old habits die hard

**7 OLD HABITS DIE HARD**

It was almost noon, and for the Warrior Princess it seamed that the old "A good beginning is half the battle" saying was right, to her much dismay. The incredibly agitated morning events were taking a tool on her and that wild goose chase after a brainless girl that had no other expectations from life then to be sacrificed to some over rated deity was not exactly the kind of plan that she had sketched for that particular day.

She was kinda drained and moody and despite the continuous efforts, her thoughts were still gliding back towards a certain War God that she would have instantly ran through without batting an eyelid if that had had any effect on his stinking immortality.

"_Unbelieavble! After all this time, after everything that he has put me through, not to mention the endless chain of lies, cheating, games and manipulations, that selfish, cocky Bastrad still acts as if he owns me and as if I should be forever grateful for the priceless privilege of having turned me into a cold blooded killer, destroying even the last ounce of goodness I still had buried under that pile of rubbish stored inside my soul._

_Tartarus, the demented Son of a Bacahe had taught me more ways to take lives than the hairs I have on my head! _

_And to top it all, he still has the nerve to display that sick attitude, treating me as if I were some pretty little dolly for him to play with whenever he feels like it...Gods damn it, if it weren't for Gabrielle I'd gladly exchange the Fate of the entire human race just for the sheer pleasure of seeing that eternal smug wiped out from his face the minute Dahok would enter the world to kick his godly ass!" _Xena almost screamed inside her mind, clenching her teeth in disgust.

In addition to that, the whole Dahok affair was giving her a headache, making her stomach feel as if it were tied up in knots at the mere perspective of having to let Gabrielle know at a certain point that her worst nightmare was about to come to life again...She couldn't even bare to think about it...The memories were still too fresh, the wounds still open...And that weird ritual, the priests, the robes...it looked strikingly familiar to what the petite Bard had managed to tell her back in Briatnia through sobs and cries...Good thing it was only the pestering Callisto at the middle of it all... That she could deal with

"_The __**rebirth**__ of the Goddess..." _she whispered warily beneath her breath, too low for Gabrielle to hear it...There was a bigger picture there... something fishy was unfolding right beneath her nose, she could bet her life on it, she just couldn't see it properly... "_But what?..." _ she continued a little louder this type, without even realizing that she had voiced the question.

"What do you mean?" the Bard asked back, a quizzical expression on her face.

"About what?"

Gabrielle just watched her in silence for a few moments, puzzled by the completely nonsensical conversation.

"You asked me "what?' So...what "what?"

Despite the bleakness of the situation, Xena couldn't hold back a loud chuckle, barely restraining the urge to ruffle her friend's feathers by asking back a staggeringly stupid "What " what "what' "?"just for the fun of seeing that cute face that she always use to put on whenever she needled her about something. But, the unmistakable sensation that they were being closely followed, despite the fact that her hawk like eyes had scrutinized the area a couple of times before, was getting stronger and stronger though...It was irking her too much to still feel like joking.

"I was just thinking out loud. Sorry..."

"Well what where you thinking about?" came the obvious, inescapable question.

Xena silenced her rapidly though, her extended hand indicating a couple of tracks on the dusty road laying in front of them.

"Look! Most of them are headed toward the river. They're going to regroup!"

"Right" the Bard answered promptly, unsure whether the impression that her Warrior friend was cleverly avoiding her totally innocent question was just in her head and she was in fact focused on the mission or there was indeed something on her mind. Yes, when it came to Xena there was always something on her mind to start it, but this time, Gabrielle thought, there was this feeling that she couldn't shake off that there was something more added to the mix...something...new...

"Gabrielle, I want you to take Argo." the Warrior Princess suddenly ordered leaving no room for debates or further interrogations. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

Nodding acceptingly, she just took the horse's reins , heading forward, her eyes glued to the road beneath her feet, skillfully deciphering the countless sets of footprints left behind by Seraphin's kidnappers.

Only a few feet behind her, a visibly bristled and stiff Xena left the path, heading towards the nearby clearing from which that other presence was watching them for awhile now. Whoever it was, had managed to get her irritated enough as to want to draw blood.

She could only hope that it was Callisto- it could kinda give her the opportunity she needed to find out some extra details regarding the reason of her surprising appearance and mostly about the way she managed to cross over from the alternate Universe Hercules had sent her months before...

A few more steps, double glance, eyes half closed...focus...focus...and... sword!

Or not...as her hand stopped midway the moment a very familiar tingle began it's eternal race up and down her spine just like an electrical discharge, making her body tense instantly at the awareness of his proximity, her eyes, rolling in exasperation.

"How long have you been watching me?" she spat, disgusted with the idea of even having to look at him again after that morning's mixed up feelings and events.

"My, my! Still grudgy arent't we? I would have thought that you' d be over it by now...I mean you know what they say: win some , lose some, Xena. That's the way things go..."

"Here to gloat? Are you bored or something?!"

"Bored? No. In love with seeing you work? Yes." the God retorted watching her straight in the eyes, not one single shade of mockery on his face. He was telling the truth, she was brilliant no matter what she did and it was in fact joy to watch her.

"Well, chatting isn't quite part of my job description, so do me the favor and go sharpen up some swords or something!" the Warrior Princess replied with a grimace while silently wondering just how long it would take for him to get to the damned point of his divine presence there in the first place, not that it wasn't more than obvious, but the way in which he always used to say it was anything but entertaining.

"Glad to see that your sense of humor is still in one piece...unlike your pride" he kept stinging, clicking his tongue as he took a few more steps in her direction.

"Anyway...being your boss and all, don't worry, I'll make sure that from now on, social skills will be mentioned among your **other **duties" he added seductively while he reached a hand to caress her face.

She slapped it away immediately, giving him no chance to get to enjoy the softness of her skin.

"Well the, make sure that you put my every duty down in writing , so that when the list is complete you can shove it up your ass!"

As she turned around to leave though, he just grabbed her arm, pulling her brutally back in place.

She just threw him an equally violent look. One more move and she was about to blow. He knew it. With a slow, defensive gesture, he just let go of her, taking one step back.

"Ok! Got it! Not in the mood...I can see that. Came here to talk, ok?

"So talk already. If you haven't noticed I was in the middle of something.""

"I'm trying, but you're not letting me..."

Xena just inhaled deeply. She was loosing her patience. He was right, she was sooo not in the mood...And still, the Bastard loved pushing the wrong buttons, even when he knew that it was clearly not the case. Gods, she hated him for that!

"I take it that you've already had your one on one with Callisto. Broke up her little party too. "

"Too bad she didn't get to open her presents" she retorted, casting a mocking but undeniably sexy glance at the smirking God through her sloppy bangs, her slender fingers brushing it slightly, in a rapidly abandoned attempt to arrange it.

"Looks like the new kid on the block wants to create her own dynasty. She's got a lot to learn though. I...uh...don't suppose she happened to be wearing a pendant, at all?" Ares questioned, a hint of utter curiosity and unspoken precaution in his amber moons, as he closed in the distance between them, picking up from where she had left off, skillfully straightening up some tangled tresses in the process too.

"You mean the Hind's Blood?" she instantly replied, still a little taken aback by the God's newly discovered passion. She restrained a smart comment though since their conversation was definitely heading in the right direction...Maybe he knew something that she still didn't. Gods knew how he was always the first to find out everything. When it came to gossip, he could teach both Hermes and Aphrodite a thing or two any day.

"No...I heard the story, Ares. Callisto killed Strife using the dagger of Hind's blood and then Hercules forced her through the gate into that other world."

"That bitch is as good as dead. It's just a matter of time before I get my hand on her..."

There were vibrations of a masterly controlled pain in his voice.

"Taking this a little too personal, Ares? Why would you? No great loss there..." the caustic phrase left her lips immediately , in the form of the same kind of question that he had the habit of asking during their regular training hours when he would bring out the worst in her, driving her up the wall just to break her focus, indirectly pushing her limits to the extreme, showing her that she could do more and better every time and that the only way to do it was by expertly controlling her emotions.

He just arched an eyebrow, explicitly letting her know how he felt. When he spoke , she almost jump, startled by his grave loud voice.

"Damn right it's personal! She had no right to kill him since I was the one dreaming about turning him to ashes every single day!"

She just looked deeper inside his eyes. There was sadness there. And some primitive form of grief. It might not seam much for anyone else around him, but for her it was as clear as daylight...he had actually cared about that frog brained nephew of his...He was hurting.

"You really cared about him, didn't you?" she questioned mildly, placing a warm, gentle hand on his face.

He adverted his gaze, but she had already noticed his troubled eyes.

"Strife was...fun to kick around...! "

"Yeah, I bet. A real joy!...Anyway, about Callisto...she's up to something Ares, I can smell it! Besides the whole dynasty crap...there's more to it, isn't it?" the Warrior Princess craftily changed the subject, silently hoping that her fears were in fact unjustifiable.

"You need information..." he implyingly stated, licking his lips in satisfaction. He always loved these moments...their negotiations, those** "I give you this if you give me that"** kind of deals...On the other hand, she hated it: the selfish Bastard couldn't do one single thing without putting his own interests first. It was what bothered her the most when it came to him, and he knew it. Each one of these so called deals was for her like a loud slap across the face.

And finally there it was:

"Maybe we can come up with some arrangement..."

"What do you want?" she snarled, turning her back at him

"Call me sentimental, but I'll just stick to what I've always wanted: you, of course. I guess it's rather about constance though..."

"You know what your problem is Ares?'

"You mean besides being **"a heartless Bastard that cares about no one but himself?" **the God grinned widely finishing his quote. She had told him that phrase at least one thousand times before, every time articulated on some different level of rage and destructive fury.

"Yeah, besides that" she spitted out, turning around like a whirlwind.

He just casually displayed a quizzical expression, inviting her to continue.

"You just don't know when to give up..."

"What can I say Xe? Old habits die hard..."

The irritated Warrior Princess simply shook her head disapprovingly.

"Forget it, Ares. I'm not in this for your petty revenge."

"I'd think twice before providing an answer if I were you, Xena...Let me give you a little hint first...call it a sign of good faith if you will..."

His Princess was paying attention...the War God was barely able to hide his pleasure. It was all he needed...she would be his again. Completely his.

"...Think, Xena...just how do you think she got through that gate?"

She was silent for a few moments.

"She's a Goddess. How long it would have taken you?"

"Good point. "

She just smirked back, an all knowing expression on her face, It magically vanished though when she heard him continue.

"But wrong answer" Noticing her confusion, he just wrapped his arms around her and whispered against her ear:

" You see sweetheart, Callisto is not a true God. She was a mortal. She's got no control over her powers...there's no way she had done it by herself...She needed an ally..."

Xena's heart skipped a beat as realization washed over her, and for a long time now, she was happy that Ares was there to hold her or her legs would have given out on her.

"Dahok..." she murmured .

"Gabrielle..." he added on the darkest of tones, tightening his hold on her. "You can't do this on your own Xena...Trying it means risking her life... and I can always present you the outcome,-the Fates have foretold it...You wouldn't like it, I give you that. Now...when the dust has settled, and when you're ready to talk, call me...It will be a fair bargain, I promise..." he finished, adding a faint kiss on top of her head before he vanished in a rain of blue sparkles.

Xena let out a loud gasp...This wasn't happening...


	8. Lights camera and action!

**8 LIGHTS, CAMERA AND...ACTION!**

. "Glory to the blood, huh?" the Warrior Princess growled on the low, dark tone of a beast that was about to take down an entire army in the sole purpose of cooking and eating half of it's soldiers for dinner. When she wanted to be scary, and when intimidating her adversaries was a top priority on her hidden agenda, there was no razor line left between reality and imagination...At the end of the day, she hadn't been considered the incarnation of Death and Chaos themselves, and the sound of her name hadn't been used by mothers all over Greece to scare their children if they misbehaved, for nothing...And that had extended over almost a decade...

"If it's blood you want, I'll give you blood!" she snarled grabbing the High Priest's pitchfork, sending him to the ground with a merciless blow straight to that ill-functioning head that was hosting such a blank, zealot mind.

This is how it always started: lights, camera, and...action!

Action...that's precisely what Xena needed the most that very moment, she was craving for it: a few well directed kicks and deadly thrusts to blow off the steam...some savage screams coming from those wannabe priests and followers' still unsliced throats on the background, and definitely, towards the end of the show , a few drops of crimson liquid to invigorate that dull landscape, every single element combined to mach the deep meaning of the craftily formulated phrase : **just what the doctor ordered.**

Minutes later, right when she was about to take a deep breath, a somehow debatable expression clumsily painted on her face indicating the utter regret that there was no more living thing left standing to entertain her, Xena's day suddenly got brighter...She had a visitor...Not everything was lost...there was still hope after all...she could still get to the bottom of that damned mess.

Despite the unexpectedly pleasant surprise, the stoic Warrior Princess's face hardened visibly, just as it had always been during the previous "heart to heart" conversations with her forever pestering "creation".

"Hmmm, not happy to see me, are you? " the satirical inquiry reached Xena's ears seconds after a curiously relaxed Callisto entered the scene, in a spectacle of intense, blazing flames- her trademark appearance as one could tell- perfectly fitting her excessively exuberant inclination for utter devastation and horror. "Neither am I really. But I've got a plan to solve both of our problems"

"Why don't you let me in on it?" the equally passive invitation was addressed on a tone that, at least for the time being, didn't resemble at all the regular one of a mother who, still mourning the death of her child, was finally face to face with the loyal protector of her son's murderer.

"Oh Xena...tsk tsk tsk tsk...I tell you about it, and the first thing you know, you'll be trying to stop me. You just trust me. You're gonna love it. Well...least half of it..."

"Oh goody!" the Warrior Princess sneered, drawing her sword, ready for the second challenging, skill testing confrontation of the day, aware that besides Ares, the crazed blonde was pretty much one of the few opponents she needed to really worry about in a fair fight. She was a heartless, ambitious, perseverant, disturbingly unscrupulous Lunatic that had nothing more too loose...that was exactly what made her so dangerous.

And her mind, sharper than Xena's own blade before a cutthroat fight with her favorite Roman friends, only made about everything ten times difficult than it would have been in her absence.

At the sight of her life long enemy's sword, Callisto's eyes flickered instantly, the scrapping sound of her own blade while being removed from it's scabbard, making her pulse quicken considerably- one of the few joys she still had the ability to feel...

Adrenaline...such a powerful and addictive chemical compound, even for Gods.

"You know...it's funny that I keep this thing around. I don't really needed. It's just for decoration...and for fun"

Xena smirked in bitter amusement, as she promptly and effectively paryed the first set of distinctively strong blows launched by the highly worked up Goddess.

An almost imperceptible shade of strange delight and relief crossed her beryl moons as she realized that her initially scrambled plan was fortuitously getting somewhere, and that maybe, just maybe, in between two steel clashes and three random kicks, Callisto would at least partially spill the beans, offering her the slightest hint about the overall puzzle that she still needed to solve.

Something had gone wrong though...she knew it the minute the force of each strike's impact diminished considerably until it gradually turned into no more and no less than an elegant but meaningless playgame, as if they weren't in fact sworn enemies but two care free kids fooling around with wooden sticks in the backyard of their house.

She shouldn't have congratulated herself for the admirably well evolving plan, not even mentally...the particularly observant Lunatic must have noticed that satisfied shade casting a special kind of light on her visage...it had been a mistake...

"Xena, Xena, Xena...I don't know if I'm toying with you, or you're toying with me...You can't beat me, you know..." Callisto cajolingly stated keeping a kittenish expression glued on her face. "You can only...you can only **delay** me..." she finally let out with a smirk, clearly proving to the slightly nervous Warrior Princess that she had picked up everything on her little plan, and that humoring her by going on with their little fight was out of the question. She was not in the mood anyway.

"You've sided with Dahok haven't you?" Xena growled between clenched teeth, scanning her adversary's face, determined to identify any hint of falsity or hesitation.

In exchange, her foe limited her reaction at bursting into wave of mocking laughter that she knew the Warrior Princess just couldn't stand.

"Would it be any more fun if I told you? Well uh...sorry Xena, but I'm on a schedule...Gotta go!"

And since not even dematerializing could represent but a plain, simple divine act for the crazed Goddess, right after hooking her claws into the High Priest's robe, she additionally blew the Warrior Princess an intense fiery kiss that, if she hadn't dogged in time, it would have most surely burned her to a crisp.

Closing her eyes tight for a second, Xena just swallowed hard, barely repressing an extremely futile curse from leaving her lips, and, trying to regain her composure she hardly managed to open them back again, when, from the dense tree line Gabrielle and that always on the run brat made an appearance, shattering even that ounce of so much needed tranquility that she had found. It just seamed that with each new event, the petite blond was closer and closer to finding out the truth and, to Xena's growing exasperation, she hadn't found a proper way to fill her in with the precious details Ares had kindly decided to share...not to mention the footnotes regarding a certain bargain...

The Bard was furious. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't understand her childhood friend's behavior.

"Seraphin! What's wrong with you?! We're trying to save your life!"

The girl just looked at her with a puzzled look, still attempting to wedge herself from the frim iron grasp keeping her put. When she spoke though her face was radiant...definitely more than the worried Bard could take.

"Gabrielle...you don't understand. I don't want to go"

"No, I know. You want to be sacrifice to the temple of Callisto. Well, it's not going to happen."

Seraphin's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Who's Callisto?"

"Who's Cal...? You mean you aren't being sacrificed to Callisto?"

By now, Xena's throat was hot and tight with tension. She could have interrupted the conversation but it was useless. She would have found out the truth one way or the other. It was unavoidable.

"I'm Chosen for the Priestess of the Blood...for the rebirth of the Goddess? "Seraphin replied, a proud smile fluttering on her lips. "Her father has ordained her a new form, granting her boundless power"

"Her father?" the Bard replied in a low, trembling voice, pressing her hands to her temples. "Whose father? Xena, This isn't about Callisto...It's about something else" she uttered, her mind in complete blur, glancing at Xena, just to discover the guilt and fear hiding behind those surreal azure moons of hers. She knew that look so well...

Right out of nowhere a violent chilly shiver seamed to have perforated her lungs, heart and brain all at once as realization washed over her. Denial was still the best solution for a few more moments, though...

"No..." she whimpered. "It can't be...What Goddess? Who are you talking about?" she suddenly yelled at Seraphin grabbing her shoulders and shaking her uncontrollably.

"The Goddess Hope, of course." her blond friend retorted promptly, totally taken aback by Gabrielle's uncommon outburst.

"No..." she murmured again, pushing her friend aside just to turn around to the Warrior Princess, helplessly searching her eyes for the slightest sign of contradiction.

"Xena, it's not true is it? It can't be...Hope is dead...and buried " she added brokenly as the agonizing image of her daughter's poisoned body burning on the funeral pire besides Solan's came to her mind., along with the wails, the tears, the remorse...

The dark haired Warrior just shifted her gaze immediately, not bearing to see the sufferance in the Bard's troubled eyes.

"But why? "

"She is gathering a following." Xena answered with no delay.

"Can't be!"

"Yes. She is building a power base of people to worship her"

"You...you knew?!" came the logical, accusing question that the Warrior Princess had been expecting to hear for awhile now.

"It had crossed my mind..." she deliberately lied, lacking the guts to tell her about Ares and the rest of Dahok's hidden agenda.

Seraphin was still confused at Gabrielle's dramatic, unexpected reaction.

"Gabrielle, you don't understand...The Goddess Hope is the Saviour of this world. She will reshape it all into a better, stronger..."

"Seraphin, you have no idea what you're talking about. Hope is bringing Dahok's destruction!" the Bard exclaimed, still in shock at everything she had just found out!"

"You're wrong." The girl insisted but she was cut off by Xena's deadly tone:

"Your Goddess killed my child!"

Seraphin was petrified. Now, she was the thunderstruck one

"It's ok, come along. I'll explain it to you..." Gabrielle whispered, putting an arm around her shoulder, her blood still froze inside her veins, knowing that in order to clear her head and come up with a plan, Xena needed some alone time...

When they were far enough and way too focused on their little chit chat in order to pay any attention at whatever she was doing, the Warrior Princess just braced herself, and, taking in a deep breath, she murmured gravely, the same word that had been glued to her mind from the first rays of light.

"Aresssssss!"


	9. Key words and other kinds of crap

**9 KEY WORDS AND OTHER KINDS OF CRAP**

_*** Hope you like it AresLover...it's full of Ares, just like you wanted it:))...***_

"Aresssssss..." and the way those thick sounds connected to make up the word surprised even herself. She had meant to say it on a grave, almost austere tone, lacking any trace of emotion, adamant about transmitting no hidden meaning to his consignee, but the void request of his presence. She failed miserably though, for in her slightly trembling voice a veiled trace of desire and longing could be heard.

She waited patinently a couple of seconds, waiting for that old familiar tingle to start traveling up and down her spine, announcing his presence, and she was ready to call him again, when , right out of nowhere, she felt his hands wound tightly around her waist, encircling her in his iron grasp.

Looking over her shoulder she didn't see anyone though, he was apparently using an invisibility shield so that neither Gabrielle nor Seraphin could see him.

"Good thinking" Xena mumbled in appreciation.

"Yeah" he simply said as if her remark was totally useless. "You rang?"

"It surely seams that way , otherwise you wouldn't have been here would you?" she retorted on a similarly stingy tone, pointing out the senselessness of his own question.

"That's highly debatable...you know me...I'm kinda the voyeur type. Plus I wouldn't still be your number one stalker if I weren't getting on your hair 24/7, would I now?"

"No arguing about that one" the Warrior Princess replied in a husky voice, leaning back into his embrace in a vain attempt to mask the obvious tension already building up in her muscles as the arousing feeling of his burning breath on the base of her neck was starting to have en effect on her. Despite herself though, her slightly turned head and those luscious lips temptingly parted told Ares exactly what she didn't want him to know.

Rapidly deciphering the afflicting message silently screamed by his Chosen's tensed form, he just placed a slow, sensuous kiss on the crock of her neck, biting playfully the silky skin hard enough to leave a mark, before torturously beginning to trace the pretty visible contours of the round print with his tongue.

Xena gasped audibly.

"Nervous?"

"Just anxious to get this over with." she answered through gritted teeth, as the painful image of her dead son's face suddenly invaded her mind. "So stop fooling around already and take us someplace that we can talk. It's time for some old school chit chat."

"As you wish, My Princess." the God replied, moving a hand to her face, brushing lightly her lips with his thumb.

The next thing Xena saw were the aquarelle colors of the forest and sky disappear progressively as the blinding lights of a vortex engulfed them both, transporting them to one of Ares' temples.

With one wave of his hand, he used his powers to seal the massive metal doors and, turning Xena around to face him, he just gave her that trademark sexy gaze of his before stating on a very implying tone, a line that obviously meant so much more than it seamed to.

"So...ladies first"

For a short moment, the Warrior Princess was silent, as if still trying to organize her thoughts. Breaking their embrace, she just took a few steps in the direction of his ebony throne, and with the laziest and most casual attitude ever, she just sat down comfortably, casting him a bored glance.

His eyes widened in surprise, the God bit hard his bottom lip, while more than a million ideas began racing through that forever restless mind of his.

"Don't grow too attached to it. Soon you'll be having your own throne up on Olympus."

Xena just smirked back at him.

"Funny that"

"Funny indeed." he retorted an ear to ear grin stretching on his perfect visage, heading her way. In less than five seconds though, he was leaning over her, hands firmly gripping the wooden frame of the back rest, his expression more serious than Xena had seen it in years.

When he spoke again, his tone was as grave as possible, their lips almost touching, their gazes locked on each other.

"Let's cut the chase. I want you back- in every sense of the word that is: Chosen, Warrior Princess...Queen, lover, mother of my heir...everything you can think of and more. In exchange, the irritating Blondie gets to live as long as the Fates have ordained it, without Dahok destroying the rest of her precious soul. As a bonus, if it makes you feel any better , you'll be getting to save the rest of humanity too. Can't say fairer than that can I? Plus...and don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to twist your arm or anything...you don't really have a choice...for, the minute dear old Dad finds out about Gabrielle's part in Dahok's dirty little scheme, she's history..."

Hearing him speak, Xena literally felt her heart leaping into her mouth. She tried to swallow but found out that she couldn't. If the Bastard wasn't lying, there was no other way around, no other choice ...

Summoning whatever was left of her patience and self control, she just spat out coldly, arching an eyebrow inquiringly:

"And you expect me to take your word for it?"

"No, not really...I guess that having a reputation as something of a trickster wouldn't help the trust factor much...But I tell you what...Why don't we pay the Fates a visit? That will certainly shatter your every doubt. They say that in a marriage "trust" is one of those indispensable key words along with the other "endless love" , "faithfulness", "self sacrifice" crap, anyway. You'll find it motivating, I'm sure"

"Gee Ares...I would have never imagined you to be the type to know everything about the holly sacrament of matrimony." the Warrior Princess mockingly stated, grabbing his pendant and pulling him even closer to her so that their lips were now lightly brushing against each other.

The War God's eyes were sparkling with excitement. He was actually getting somewhere with her.

"Yeah I bet you haven't. So, maybe..." he continued, tracing a thin, straight line with his index from the base of her neck towards her full breasts, watching in utter amazement the way in which that rich spectrum of azure and gold of her irides started to change gradually to dark, stormy blue."...just maybe , you'll see things my way once you realize what the cards hold for your little Bard friend. And then, letting me worship you, will seam like the best decision you have ever made in your life" he whispered lowly, pulling her into a demanding, firey kiss, that broke as soon as, Xena's knee colided with his crotch, makin him fall in a heap at her feet.

"If you really want to worship me, you can as well start now!" she hissed angrily, throwing him such a fierce glare that would have made any mortal flee in less than a blink.

The God on the other hand, was no "any other mortal". Without bothering to get up, he just grabbed her legs, pulling her on the floor next to him, his every immortal cell craving to feel her body as close as possible to his own.

"Oh I love it when you play hard to get! That fire in your eyes! It could burn down entire cities within a blink!" he growled, his hand gripping firmly the back of her neck, seizing her lips again in what this time proved to be a kiss that Xena herself refused to break, locking her hands around his waist, letting him have control over , and, the minute his other hand began sliding brassily beneath her battle skirt and up her thigh, she just could no longer restrain a wanting, muffled moan that only made the God stop dead in his tracks and just pull back precipitousl. Placing a passionate kiss on the back of her hand he just uttered raggedly:

"Let's go take care of this Dahok issue already, or I swear to all Gods, you won't be leaving this temple for a week, Xe...Fuck Zeus and the entire humanity, they could as well move on another planet for all that I care..."

Xena just silenced him the instant that, closing in teh distance between them, she began flickering the tip of her wet, inviting tongue on the surface of his still parted lips...Ares was literally holdoing his breath. He looked as if he had been hypnotized...

"Men are sooo easy..." she finally broke out. "To the Fates it is, then"

The God just smiled seductively before he helped her get up, wrapping his arms around her again as they got ready to leave. Right before they vanished he murmured lowly while teasingly nibbling her earlobe:

"I could get used to this..."

The Warrior Princess just chuckled softly. Her eyes though had a cold, steely gaze shining on their icy surface...


	10. For the welfare of humanity

**10 FOR THE WELFARE OF HUMANITY**

The instant she opened her eyes, still a little dizzy after that despicable aether travel that she just couldn't stand no matter how hard she tried, the Warrior Princess cast a rather long glance around her , surprised to discover that the Temple of Destiny hadn't changed much since the last time she was there with Ares .

The room they were in was still a mess, still filled to the brim with colored strings that were genuinely spread about everywhere, like some sort of giant cobweb: on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, moving without interruption, and definitely without any sort of human logic like restless snakes, back and forth.

"I guess that the notion of "positive change" is still a mystery as big as Chin around here." she mumbled beneath her breath, making the God escape a pretty loud chuckle.

"We should definitely bring Dite to work her magic with the redecoration" he replied, the thought of his airheaded sister actually leaving her trademark neon fuchsia all over the place only succeeding to amuse him even more.

"Right! Can you imagine? Pink strings everywhere...? And you know what would definitely be a first in the history of mankind?" she inquired , staring at him with an expression of utter hilarity. " A scene in which the bloodthirsty God of War, the embodiment of death, hate and violence all together would be watching his life unfolding before his eyes along a cute, rosy, woolen thread for the rest of eternity..." the mocking comment broke out, and, the compassionate gesture of patting him on the shoulder just gave the entire scene a totally new dimension of irony.

Ares just smirked back at her rolling his eyes, refusing to continue that ridiculous "what if" conversation any longer. The mere idea of his own persona being associated in any way with that stupid mixture between red and white, was making him sick to his stomach. In his opinion, pink wasn't even a color...it was just an artistic error that he still secretly hoped somebody would fix at a certain moment in life.

"What brings ..."

"...you here"

"...God of War?" the surreal voice of the three Fates suddenly sliced the air, making them both turn around the following second.

"The welfare of humanity!" Ares retorted with a theatrical solemnity that despite the actual bleakness of the situation, made Xena snort uncontrollably.

"Sorry!" the mumbled excuse left her lips immediately, covering her mouth with her hand, and displaying the most serious "I'm on a mission" figure she was capable of.

"Anyway..." the gamesome God kept on talking, paying absolutely no mind to his Chosen's previous word. "As you have foretold, Dahok is planning his return and the beginning an everlasting reign of terror upon these lands...We can't let it happen. "

"So..."

"...you're using"

"...the Warrior Princess..." was the following fragmented sentence that the totally honest Fates spoke with a face as funeral as if they were assisting at the common Olympian burial.

"I wouldn't exactly call it **"using".**..." the God answered as a very obvious frown darkened his features.

"Is the truth too much for you, Ares?" Xena bit back, she herself a little disturbed by the brutal sincerity that they were both forced do deal with and swallow in their own personal ways.

"I'd rather call it a **"partnership"**. I actually consider it more... appropriate, given the **"one hand washes the other"** concept that seams to fit our situation just about now..."

"Well, call it what you may, but until those images start flowing, the chances for your "concept" to remain just that, are very close to reaching sky level.." the Warrior Princess stated firmly, intentionally stressing the final part of the phrase, subtly demanding him to ask the Fates to show them those damned versions of Gabrielle's destiny already. She was getting impatient.

Sensing the growing anxiety in her tone, the God couldn't help eying her with that irritating " all knowing", patronizing look of his that she had always hated with all of her being. A rather derisive smile had already started to stretch the corner of his lips , aware that the reason for her unbearable eagerness was in fact the confirmation of her own future...she was still holding hope that somehow, she would manage to find a proper solution to that unsurpassable problem that would allow her the luxury to maintain her complete freedom.

When he finally spoke, his voice sounded exceedingly formal. Xena could easily read the utter hint of defiance between the lines.

"I request for my Chosen to be allowed to see the future of her friend, Gabrielle"

"The events that are to come in any person's life..."

"...are burdensome for any mortal ..."

"...or God, to see..." came the highly instructive answer, but Xena had no time for mushy stuff.

"If you don't mind ladies, we're kinda in a hurry...So skip the tour guide instructions and show me what I want to see already" the Warrior Princess growled gnashing her teeth, visibly pissed by Ares' crappy attitude. As always, he was playing with her. Building up the tension in her mind, savagely demolishing any idea she might have had about finding a chance to still solve this on her own.

Getting the reaction he wanted from her, the God just motioned for the Fates to start projecting versions of the Bard's future.. Before they reached the third version, the Warrior Princess was literally petrified, her pulse close to zero as her heart was hardly beating.

She just couldn't believe her eyes: in the first outline, she had refused to side with Ares and the other Olympians and the price paid for her foolishness had been Gabrielle's unexpected death. Zeus had mercilessly turned her friend to ashes with a lightening bolt, the instant he found out that finishing her off might give them a little advantage until they came up with some way to defeat Dahok.

Consequently , to revenge the petite Bard, Xena made an alliance with the Dark God and Callisto, found the Hind's Dagger, and one by one she sent to Hades's realm each and everY inhabitant of Olympus with the exception of Aphrodite.

Ares, she killed accidentally during a fight, without the actual intention to do it, but a deep enough scratch was all it took for the poison to get into his blood. He died in her arms...

...Another version of many showed Gabrielle pregnant with the fifth Destroyer, the land of Greece and the neighbouring countries covered in a thick blanket of darkness with Xena fighting Athena , Haephaestus, Discord and Appollo at the outskirts of some burnt to the ground city, the Warrior Princess still blindely believing that she could pull back Gabrielle from the demonic world her mind had involuntarily plunged into. In this type of alternative future, the Bard had become Dahok's High Priestess and wife, giving up her freedom to save Xena's life.

The drak haired Warrior shighed deeply. She felt totally overwhelmed by that entire messy labyrinth. She was almost on the point of giving up and telling Ares that she was ready to seal the deal, when the God silenced her with a brief gesture.

"Not yet, Princess. What's best is yet to come. I wouldn't want you to miss this, for the world" he bitterly said, pointing in the direction of the still unfolding images.

And he was right. The Fates had seemingly saved the best for last, and, as much as she tried to control her reaction, the Warrior Princess was unable to hold back a loud gasp the minute she saw her own sword drilling a whole straight into her completely dehumanized friend's heart, blood splashing everywhere...She had killed Gabrielle. She had kill her light...


	11. I swear it on Styx

**11 I SWEAR IT ON STYX...**

Taking a good look at his troubled Princess, the War God just uttered dispassionately, doing his best to wipe that ever so satisfied grin off his face before he crossed the line and made the already edgy Warrior blow up. It was neither the time nor the place for that kind of representation, and he knew that very well.

"Had that change of heart already? You gotta admit it Xena, at least this very moment the standard image of you riding into the sunset with the irritating Blondie and living happily ever after is as far of becoming reality as the one of me wearing a dress"

"Well that means that it's not so far after all given the fact that during the last banquet we attended up on Olympus, after the ninth glass of wine or so, you were all wrapped up in Aphrodite's cashmere shawl, pretending to be Homer himself, declaring your undying love to me from the top of the central table.!" Xena hissed, completely unamused by the series of memories that had just invaded her mind.

"Don't you start on me now!" Ares began launching an entire defence meant to shatter Xena's any intention of continuing her attack. " That particular incident only happened because I was roaring drunk and we both know it! And let's not forget to mention why exactly had the event actually happened in the fist place! And that shawl was meant to be a toga!"

"Apollo hitting on me is not a relevant excuse Ares! And that shawl was meant to be an evening gown I'm as sure about it as my chackram is round!"

"Who even said anything about that desperate for a fuck moron trying to hit on you? He could have as well hit a pillar; the effect would have been similar, giving that absolutely flawless smack you gave him when he started squeezing your breasts! I was talking about those naughty glances you were throwing Hermes across the table!"

"Are you kidding me?! I haven't even noticed he was there!"

"Yeah right! I bet you failed to notice his hand gliding down your back and resting on your butt for the rest of the song when he invited you to dance too, right?"

"You were definitely as tight as a brick weren't you? I haven't even got next to your winged pall that night! I only danced with Hades...Plus, Persephone was but feet away from us dancing with Zeus, there was no way in Tartarus his hand moved at least an inch down from the middle of my back!"

"Are you telling me that I'm having eye problems or something?! I'm not blind Xena, I saw you!"

"Oh shut up already, you were barely keeping your eyes open. You probably imagined the whole scene, to begin with!"

And as Ares was about to protest, the Warrior Princess just cut him off abruptly changing the topic faster that he could even inhale properly.

"About that deal...there are still details that need to be discussed. I do have some demands, and you'd better be flexible enough about them unless you want me to just go ahead and make a venture given the fact that now I know exactly to what kind of situations I should be on the look out for."

"I'm all ears" the God's pretty displeased tone broke through despite his reply being accurately formulated.

"Good, cause I wouldn't want to be any confusions about it...Maybe if you have eye problems, you have ear problems too. You're getting old after all..." she retorted, a mischievous smile on her lips, touching his head briefly with the tip of his fingers.

" I can see the grey hairs from here...I'm telling you, there's definitely something wrong with you" she playfully added, pretending to carefully examine him.

"Aren't you the funny one today... I'm surprised you're still in the mood to make jokes...I would have expected some unchecked crocodile tears and maybe even some little outburst meant to show me just how much it all hurts..."

The Warrior Princess just gave him her classic " Cross your heart and hope to die!" look.

"Ok...so maybe I overreacted a little with the tears...but the outburst should have normally been there...along with the endless enumeration of my qualities, that is... You know, the " Souless Bastard", "good for nothing second hand God" . " Son of a Bacahe", "Selfish moron" routine...I'm beginning to miss it...Hmmmmmm..." he concluded, rubbing his chin pensively.

"Don't worry, it's on the way! I wouldn't skip that stage for all the gold in the world!"

"Oh thank the Fates! Now my heart is almost back in place again!"

They just smirked at each other defiantly, the Warrior Princess wondering where exactly was he heading with all that useless cheap talk after all...He was obviously stalling...

The Bastard was up to something, she could bet her own sword on it...What was the catch?

"Oh goddy! I wouldn't want you to have a heart attack or something –if Gods can even have one- Well not before we solve the Dahok issue, anyway!" she continued his little game, without actually knowing why would she even bother doing it, but she could guess that the God had a pretty strong reason for it, since, knowing him inside out, she could tell that such kind of useless blabbering was totally out of his character...

Ares just smirked at her and replied:

"So ...why don't you fill me in on those **"little details?"** "

"That's fine with me...Let'see" Xena began, taking a few steps back and forth the room as if she were still debating on their accuracy. "In exchange for me siding with you and the other Olympian scum to defeat that cancer of a God and serving you again until my dying breath..." his mind filtering the last part of her phrase though, Ares quickly interrupted her .

"No, no no! Let me enlighten you. I wouldn't want you to get this the wrong way! I don't want you to **serve **me, I want you to be my equal, **my consort**. I want you to take your place among the Gods!"

"That's very generous of you Ares, but I think I'll pass. I have no interest what so ever to join your trashy company up on Olympus."

The God eyed her incredulously, a puzzled expression on his face before a sparkle of anger and hurt pride started glistening on the amber surface of his irides.

"Xena...You might have misunderstood...Let me rephrase it for you...What I said was that..."

"No, you don't understand. If you want me by your side, we'll do things my way. If not, you may as well go dig up your graves, all of you!" the Warrior Princess roared through clenched teeth, her voice ten times more menacing that Dahok's imminent presence.

"Aren't you by any chance forgetting something?" he answered his fists balled up and his lungs drawing air deeper and deeper while trying to control his rage.

"Gabrielle? I don't know, Ares...After having seen those images I might just believe that I do stand a chance after all!"

The God was silent for a few seconds. She was as stubborn as Tartarus, and once her mind was made up, she would go on to the bitter end to accomplish something even if that meant her own demise, he knew that much.

" That would be tragic...But go on...what else?"

"Once I take control over your army, I want you to stay out of my hair. I can make my own decisions without you constantly meddling with my affairs regardless if you agree with them or not."

"Fine. As long as the welfare of my soldiers and the importance of our common goals won't accidentally skip that devious mind of yours., it can be done. " Ares pointed out, making sure not to leave her any chance of later interpretations of their deal.

"One more thing..."

"You mean there's more?"

Throwing him the most full of disgust look she was capable of, she just continued, completely ignoring his rather rhetorical question.

"When this is over, you'll leave Gabrielle alone. I want her to live her life in peace. It would be a good chance for her to start over, to follow her dreams No more "I will kill the irritating Blondie" stuff ever again." , she whispered her voice broken and sad.

"As far as I'm concerned, once this is over she has disappeared from the face of the earth." the God stated without the slightest hesitation, glad to be able to keep the annoying Bard friend away from his Princess, without the minimum of effort...

"Good. And last but not least..."

"Don't push it" he warned, cupping her chin, and staring her straight in the eyes.

Xena maintained eye contact, that steely gaze of hers firmly drilling a whole right through that tough guy shield he was so accustomed to make use of.

"I'm not...But still, if I'm forced to sell myself to you like some common slave, I'm planning to at least get something out of it!" she coldly answered leaving the War God agaped.

"Don't talk like that" he ordered, gently caressing her face.

"What's wrong? Is the term **"slave"** too strong for your unmatching ego? Does it bother you that you were unable to win me over other than by blackmail? Deal with it!"

"What I'm offering you here, is far from what any common slave would ever dear to dream of, Xena! So I'm sorry , I really am, but the guilt card won't do you any favors this time ! I'm listening..."

Slowly licking her lips, Xena swolloed hard before launching her next demand. Making him accept it was going to be a chore, she could feel it...When she spoke, the unease and incertitude in her voice were more than obvious.

"About our child..."

She could tell she had his undivided attention the moment his hand moved to her hips, pulling her closer but not to close though, possessively, but without requiring submission.

"I want you to wait until I'm ready...And it will be a decision we will make together"

Carefully contemplating the shade of anxiety written all over her face, Ares thought twice before giving her an answer, aware that any decision he took was strikingly similar to a double edged sword...it could cut both ways.

"Fine..." he finally articulated to the Warrior Princess' relief, squeezing her waist lightly. "Are we done?"

" Yeah, that would be it."

"Ok...I can grant and respect your wishes...but still, the immortality part stays, Xena...I want forever with you not some insignificant 30 years-and that if I'm lucky enough that is, and if you don't die on me, on some Gods forsaken battlefield somewhere ... No...and our child could never be immortal unless his mother is...One more year, that's all I can give you..."

"Ares..."

He instantly silenced her though, covering her lips with the tip of his fingers. His tone was almost pleading.

"Don't...Sweet, I can't..."

Her gaze shifted from him.

" Ok...one year left then..." she murmured under her breath, her hand resting casually on his shoulder.

"I don't think I like the way that sounded" he promptly pointed out, instantly reading the idea between the lines, turning her head to look at him.

"Too bad..." she stated a glacial smile frozen on her lips.

"Xena..."

"Are we going to seal this deal or not?" she questioned , breaking his futile monologue attempt.

He didn't answer right away. When he did though, his voice was the one of the same familiar selfish Basatrd that she had always known.

"I call upon you Fates, mistresses of Destiny and weavers of both mortal and immortal canvas of life to witness and sacralize the oaths that I, Ares, God of War, and Xena of Amphipolis my Chosen take this day, here, in front of your altar"

"You may begin the ritual...

"...God of War"

"...You may deliver your vows..."

Turning towards a very stiffen and skeptic Warrior Princess, Ares took her hand and place it upon his heart, covering it with his own, in sign of good faith and complete sincerity.

"I, Ares, God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, bringer of Distruction and Death, I swear to respect all the promises that I made to you here, in the presence of the Fates, I vow to never break our commitment and I request to be punished by oblivion if I cross in any way the limits we agreed upon. I swear this on Styx and on the head of Zeus himself. "

Hearing him utter his vows Xena was flabbergasted. Ares asking to be punished by oblivion if he broke their agreement? Was he that serious about it?

It was her turn...

"I, Xena of Amhiplois , Chosen of the God of War, I also swear to respect everything I promised here to my patron God in the presence of the Fates, I vow to never break the commitment I made and I request to be punished by death if I fail to respect my word in any way. I swear it on Styx and on the head of Zeus the Olympian, King of the Gods."

"Your oths are sacred and cannot be broken, not now, not ever until the end of time..."

"You are bound by the promises that you freely made to each other, you are to respect and to honour them..."

"Breaking them in any way means your own, implacable death..." the Fates spoke with such thunderous voices that made Xena's heart secretly skip a beat, and Ares inhale deeply, aware of what he had just done...

"So...no fireworks?" Xena muttered looking all around her, a faint shade of fatigue darkening her beryl eyes.

"Neah...it's not their style...Shall we, Princess?"

"Where to? " she asked, intrigued by his sudden rush to leave.

"Well...for starters, we have a war to plan, strategies to built, little time to do it... you know, the usual. " he retorted extending a hand for her to grab.

Doing just that, they vanished the second after, without even glancing to the three ladies who were still watching them with vivid interest.

The following moment, from behind a curtain of invisibility, the mighty King of the Gods made an appearance, formally addressing to the Fates, a proud smile on his lips:

"It seams that this son of mine is not really that dumb after all...chaining her to him like that. She could never betray us now, not even if she wanted to..."

"He is equally chained to her, Almighty Zeus..."

"...You've heard the oaths,; Ares will not be able to betray her either, in any way..."

"...Gabrielle was not the real threat, it was Xena..."

"I know, I know...she was supposed to be the mother of the Messenger of Peace, the child not begotten by man, bringer of Twilight, Slayer of the Gods...Well not any more! The only child she will have is with Ares or I will kill them both with my own hands!"


	12. Patience is a basic virtue

**12 PATIENCE IS A BASIC VIRTUE**

Taking a brief glance around her , Xena exhaled a long breath. They were in Macedonia, inside Ares' famous, impenetrable fortress, a type of rare, godly place where neither mortal nor immortal could enter without his consent. The perfect hideout if you will.

Slowly, she brought her hands to her temples. Her head was throbbing and her stomach felt strikingly similar to the first time she had ever been on sea. Apparently, having barely touched the food in the morning when Ares took her back to Gabrielle, was a good thing after all or she would have threw it all up in less than a blink, straight on the God's ultra sexy leather vest, before he could even realize what was going on.

Noticing her frown and that overly expressive grimace painted all over her face, Ares just touched her forehead lightly, allowing that very familiar yellow halo to leave his palms and fingertips and project itself around the Warrior Princess' head. In no time she was as good as new.

"Don't mention it..." the God mumbled seconds later, displeased by the fact that she didn't even bother to acknowledge his unbelievably generous effort to help her feel better, his every pore radiating with compassion and unselfishness. A very rare combination for any War God, that's for sure.

"Don't tell me that you were actually expecting me to thank you! It's because of you that I was on the verge of remembering everything I ate during these past few days in the first place!" Xena burst out, glaring daggers at the still outraged Olympian.

"Right...My mistake. I sometimes tend to forget that the word **"Princess"** in your title has absolutely nothing to do with either courtesy or manners of any kind..."

"Well I surely didn't ask you to make me feel better did I?"

"Are you saying that you would have preferred being sick than allowing me to help you? Are you really that ungrateful? Or is your damned pride getting in the way again?"

And as much as she would have wanted to let her tongue launch a harsh enough reply in the sole purpose to spite and hurt him, Xena 's words just tumbled over each other in her throat, refusing to come out in the form of the phrase that she had already articulated inside her mind, and when they did finally come out, their sound almost made Ares take a defensive step back.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you"

For a moment there, the God was speechless. The Warrior Princess admitting that he was right, apologizing for something she had said **and **thanking him for what he had done for her, all in one single sentence...? That was almost... scary...

Narrowing his eyes in disbelief, Ares analyzed her expression better though, looking for any signs of hidden irony in her eyes...There was none. Still, he couldn't help asking on a caustic tone:

"Are you making fun of me now?"

"No" came the monosyllabic answer that made the God'e eyes narrow even more.

"...And stop giving me that look. It's not like I've never admitted my mistakes before...unlike other people I know... What was all that mambo jumbo crap that you insisted on performing back at the Temple of the Fates?"

"First of all, I can count on the fingers of one hand the times that you've actually thanked me for anything in the world-this time included , and second, that mambo jumbo crap as you called it could cost us both our lives if our plan fails! Zeus was there, I could feel his presence. I had to do something to make the whole scene seam convincing enough!Making an oath in front of his faithful servants seamed like the safest bet during that very moment!"

"Is that the best excuse you could come up with, Ares? Come on! You can do better, you coward! Look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't take perfect advantage of the situation, jus like you always do! I dare you!"

"What are you talking about, Xena? If I had wanted to take advantage of the situation I wouldn't have come to you this morning when I found out about Gabrielle! I would have looked the other way when Zeus would have turned her to ashes, pretending that I had no clue about his intentions! His gesture would have saved me a lot of niggling effort don't you think...? Plus, it would have given me the chance to be right there by your side to pick up the pieces of your broken heart, making good use of all the overwhelming pain and unrestrained desire for vengeance vibrating from your every pore, and "accidentaly" channel them straight into the right direction ... Given the circumstances, it would have been pretty much a piece of cake, doll! Having my number one girl back, without any additional complications! Dosen't sound so bad does it? So don't you dare give me that speech, not this time, ok?"

For a few seconds it was silence. As always, Ares was fuming, completely irritated by his Princess' nerve to question his intentions. It was definitely not the first time in his life when he was actually trying to do the right thing, without taking into consideration at all his own interests but rather her well being, totally ignoring that chocking urge to have her by his side again, and focusing on getting her out of a pit the depth of which she couldn't even imagine yet. Still, she kept acting like some ingrate bitch that somehow, for a completely unknown reason, believed that she deserved everything in the universe without giving anything in return.

He literally felt like slapping her.

At the opposite pole, as skeptic as alwyas, Xena was torn between the imperative urgency to to figure out the God's hidden agenda and the need to believe in him for once...

" Do you think we were convincing enough this morning?" she whispered, her face straight and passive.

"We must have been or he would have blown us both to pieces, no second thoughts."

"I still don't get it Ares...I mean the idea of us communicating through our bond should have pulled one million alarm signals inside that perverted brain of his. Like...what's the catch?"

"Honestly, I don't know..." the God retorted shrugging his shoulders. " It kinda bothers me too...he should have definitely anticipated that...Could it be that he just assumed that I would literally jump at the opportunity to have you back again?"

"Wouldn't you?" the Warrior Princess replied, closing in the distance between them, a flirting, discreet smile playing on her lips.

He just smiled back , placing a warm palm on her face and keeping it there, waiting for her to lean into his touch. She didn't. She just arched an eye brow and chuckled softly.

"You're really something, you know that?"

"So I've heard..."

"This morning...How was it for you...?" the God inquired, allowing his fingertips to gently glide along her jaw line"

"Good..."

"Good?! Excuse me?!" Ares exclaimed, revolted by the utter falseness detected in Xena's line."I'm sorry Sweetie but by the sounds you made, **exceptional** would be a little bit closer to reality...Though, if you ask me, **surreal **would be the right word to describe it all"

"Maybe the sounds were part of the show, Ares. After all, it would have been a pity to disappoint daddy Zeus, wouldn't it? I bet that after what he saw there, Hera suddenly became the happiest woman on the planet. She should be forever grateful. We did her a favor. "

"Do I actually look that easy to trick to you?...Honey...After a couple of eons of existence I believe I'm capable enough to tell the difference between a fake orgasm and a genuine one... And the scratches on my back...as real as they could be...Still have them by the way. I think I'll keep there another day or too, just for the pleasure of teasing you with the reminder"

"A day or two huh?" Xena questioned picking up on his hint.

"Yeah you know...I wouldn't want my new girlfriend to instantly loose appetite when she realizes that we're not exactly exclusive"

The Warrior Princess just smacked him playfully.

"You're such an ass"

He laughed, grabbing her hand before she managed to pull it back from his chest, and squeezed it lightly.

"Would it bother you? If you knew that I sleep with other women too...?"

"Ares you could sleep with your own mother for all that I care!" Xena stated coldly, trying to seam as passive and careless as he had ever seen her but the God knew better.

"So it **would** bother you"

"I didn't say that" she quickly defended herself.

"You didn't have to..." Ares replied watching her body tense imperceptibly, just as he had expected it too.

"You're delusional." the Warrior Princess said with a smirk. " About Callisto..." she started, but she didn't manage to finish her sentence that her mouth was literally crushed by the God's lips, and before she knew it, she was barely able to stop the moans and gasps from leaving her throat when the God 's soft tongue reached for her own...Somehow, he always managed to surprise her- the effect that his every kiss could have on her...it was hypnotizing...

"There's no one else...there's no need to..." he murmured lowly in between kisses and caresses, leaving her no time to answer though.

As soon as they pulled apart, Xena eyed him attentively, almost holding her breath. She couldn't tell if he was lying or not...all this sudden will of his to help out, to save Gabrielle, his immeasurable empathy...his overly cooperative nature, the flexibility...he was so out of character...

XXX

Up on Olympus, a particularly good humored Zeus was talking to his circumspect wife who had just returned from the beautiful land of the Nile.

"Back so soon my Queen?"

"Let's just say that Isis was well aware of her debt to you. She needed no persuasion"

"That's a very good news...And to all appearances, you... refused her hospitability...?" Zeus inquired rhetorically, emphasizing his wife's unforgivable lack of courtesy.

"They both understood the importance of my presence here, by your side, husband. Unless...am I bothering you in any way?" she replied, briefly touching his hand, capturing his gaze with her cunning, perfidious one.

"Nonsense dear wife. The sight of you could never be anything else than pure pleasure and joy to me" the King of the Gods answered laughing, his honeyed words having in fact nothing to do with his own feelings for the one standing just inches away from him, feelings that by now were as dead as Chronos, and they both knew it.

It was no wonder that when he finished his phrase, Hera started laughing too. What for most of the people could have only brought sadness or depression, for them was like a good old joke that they loved replaying again and again and again, just for kicks.

"How did things go with Ares and Xena?" the Goddess questioned, a sparkle of interest glistening on the surface of her emerald green eyes.

"Perfect thus far. They took the bait. Used their bond to communicate."

"I'm surprised...Was Ares that dumb?"

"It seams so...Your son would betray us for her in a heartbeat, Hera!"

"I distinctly remember that he's your son too, husband! "

Zeus just growled, shifting his gaze instantly. The thought of his own offspring betraying him for some mortal wrench gave him the chills.

"Do you think that he knows about Xena's child?"

"No...I strictly prohibited the Fates to tell him..."

"It's just a matter of time before he finds out you know...when it comes to her he always finds out..."

"Don't you worry about that...It has been already taken care of" Zeus answered , waving his hand dismissively. "The only child she will have will be with our son"

"Really?" the Goddes broke out satirically, an ear to ear grin on her face. "Have you lost your mind, Zeus? How in the world could you ever do that? Are you planning to keep an eye on her 24/7? See if she only fucks Ares or not?"

"No. I actually found a much better solution to that...Anyway. If we play our cards right, along with Dahok, we will get rid of the Warrior Princess too. One way or the other, she will cease to be a threat for any of us, in no time. The Twilight will never come. The prophecy will be shattered."

Hera eyed him suspiciously. The Olympian King was radiating with over confidence and airiness. She knew that look so well. He obviously had an impossibly to outguess plan. She just threw him a questioning glance, curious to hear the details. His answer just made her cock her nose in contempt.

"Patience, my darling, is a basic virtue as you very well know..."


	13. My favorite toy

**13 MY FAVORITE TOY...**

"No one else, huh?" Xena repeated pensively, a secretive smile on her lips, turning around quickly, before the God got the chance to see even the slightest amount of that shade of obvious insecurity and vulnerability floating on the surface of her splendide eyes.

She had so many memories from the nights spent with him in between those walls that she literally felt like screaming. He always brought her there when they didn't want to be bothered... there was no one else around except for two priestess that she had personally chosen to take care of the basic stuff that needed to be done. He had once told her that she was the first woman he had ever taken there, and that she would be the last...She wondered if it was still true or not...

Noticing her reaction Ares just shook his head in disappointment. He just couldn't understand this woman...not once when they were together did he give her any reason to doubt his love and loyalty to her, there was never one single incident to make her feel betrayed –not even emotionally let alone phisically – and yet, deep down she was unable to comprehend the fact that he was no ordinary man: he was a God- and unlike his mangy father, and despite all that macho façade that he liked to make use of every time he had the opportunity, she had managed to win his heart a long time ago and, had they been together that very then, he wouldn't even dream of looking at another woman.

Wrapping his arms around her, and placing a soft kiss on her neck, his voice could be heard again like an echo, trying to pierce through that thick, unbreakable wall she had built around her heart the moment she left him a few years back:

"No one but you Princess..."

Unavoidably, her eyebrows came together in a frown as she suddenly remembered his not very far away escapade with Callisto, while the Lunatic was trapped in her body and vice versa. And she was just about to throw that little detail in his face, when, right out of nowhere, she sensed his every muscle flinch, his body stiffening considerably.

"What's wrong?" she inquired, squeezing his hand lightly, feeling the distinct wave of distress in their connection.

"Zeus. He wants me up on Olympus ASAP. "

"He probably expects a report" she said with a scowl, breaking free from his grasp in less than a blink.

He didn't answer back this time.

"Does he know we're here?"

"No...you know this place is impenetrable in every sense of the word. Not even godly mirrors can see in here. "

"Good. Don't be long. We still have to talk things over." she simply stated making herself comfortable on a burgundy chesterfield just steps away from her.

The God was left agape watching her in utter amazement...one minute she acted as if she would rather be in any cheap, stinky tavern in Greece than right there by his side, and the other as if she owned the place, as if she was at home...

"I'll do my best." he finally managed to mumble. " Do you need anything?"

She just shook her head negatively, analyzing the still puzzled expression expertly painted on his face.

"Well if you change your mind just call Ayla or Tasia. They should be here somewhere. "

And right when he was on the verge of stepping into the aether, the harsh sound of his name left Xena's lips, so low that she herself could barely catch it. As always though, hearing his Princess' voice didn't seam to be a problem for the leather clad Olympian , and, as soon as the word reached the air, the handsome God stopped dead in his tracks, fixing his gaze back on her.

"Aresss..."

"...Yes Xe?"

"Could you check up on Gabrielle for me, please? I need to know she's ok."

"Sure" he answered softly without adding any other stingy comment to his answer, like he usually did when the Brad came into discussion.

The following second, he was gone, leaving a rather tired Xena sunk in thought.

"Thank you" she murmured when she no longer felt his presence in the room.

XXX

In the lavishingly adorned meeting room up on Olympus, Zeus was sitting on his craftily sculpted golden throne, eating grapes from a sliver platter as if he had no care in the world.

"You're late" he couldn't help fire away the absolutely irritating phrase that was tickling the tip of his tongue, the minute a very cocky War God bothered to materialize a few feet away from him, on his own throne.

"Well, you know what they say, Dad...better late than never"

"Don't play "smart" with me, boy! Where were you? It took me awhile before I managed to get a hold of you!"

"Patching up with dear old Kal. Isn't that what you and uncle Hades have "subtly" required of me this morning?"

"Good, 'cause we'll need all the allies we can get. Did you talk to your Chosen? How did it go?" Zeus asked, wasting no more time with other pointless comments.

"I'm really in a hurry Zeus, I got a lot of matters to attend to, an army to gather, soldiers to instruct...so let's just lay our cards on the table, ok? I know you've been there the whole time, so I guess there's no use on debating the results, since we both know that things are right on track as they should be..." the God hissed through clenched teeth, glaring daggers at the imposing Olympian King who instinctively stood up when he heard his own son addressing him in such informal and rude manner.

"Don't." Ares simply restarted as he made a goblet of ambrosia materialize into his hand, taking a long sip out of the amber like liquid, closing his eyes while fully savoring it as if Zeus weren't even there. " Unless you want me and Xena to change sides and lay Dahok a helping hand. The mere thought of such an unfortunate event happening would certainly keep tou awake at night, wouldn't it?" he rethorically questioned, displaying an ear to ear grin the instant a blinding white lightening bolt appeared in his father's hand

"So I was right all along. You'd actually be capable to betray your own kin for that mortal tramp wouldn't you? " the Olympian King yelled at the War God ready to strike him down, aggravated by his son's totally defying attitude.

"Tsk tsk tsk! I wouldn't do that if I were you! The Twilight, remember? I've heard that my seed is particularly valuable these days...You wouldn't want Xena to have some other entity's child, right? All that Messenger of Peace crap...Yeah...I bet that if that doesn't ring a bell than nothing could..."

"I'll turn her to ashes too before your own body gets cold! And then, I have all the reason in the world to believe that any threat to my dominion or to our lives would be just another fairytale story that Hera will so graciously tell to our grandchildren! "

"True, that could always be an option. But in order to kill her, you'd have to find her first...And I could bet my godhood that she could easily give birth to ten Messengers of Peace instead of one, before you reach her ..."

Closing in the distance between them, Zeus made the deadly weapon disappear from his hand, and, arriving next to his son's throne he asked on the lowest of tones, obvious contempt and disgust in his voice:

"What do you want? Power? A laurel crown maybe?"

Hearing his Father's far-fetched hypothesis, Ares just burst out in a wave of laughter.

"I' hate to disappoint you, Dad, but I'd rather be the leader of a flight of wild geese than the ruler of this handful of scary cats, that much I can tell ya'! So for all that I care, you can go on barking orders at them till the end of eternity , and they can all ago on pretending that they actually respect your flawless judgment... No...you know what I want..."

Watching the War God's sparkling eyes, Zeus just sneered mockingly:

"Don't tell me this is all about that worthless cunt after all!"

" No. It's about a woman I'm rather fond of..." Ares stated on a menacing enough voice that made his Father's tone change into more of a business like one.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you won't touch one hair on my Xena's head or I'll make sure to send you all to Tartarus in a heartbeat. As you could see and hear for yourself this very morning, the problem has been taken care of...she will help us with Dahok in exchange for the blonde's life..."

"We can't afford the risk to let the Bard live...she will be the portal through which the Destroyers will come to life one way or the other...there are too much at stake, Ares!"

"I know...and she won't be allowed to stay among the living for too log...For her the clock is already ticking in countdown...Just have a little faith in me for once, will you.?...This time we seam to share a common goal..."

"How about the Twilight?"

"Well...your initial idea wasn't that bad...Mom was right all along...The child of War could never be the Messenger of Peace, could it, now?"

For what proved to be a long, silent, almost endless minute, Zeus began to slowly rub his white beard, as if having to decide whether to say **"yes"** again at the altar in front of the Fates, and slid the ring on Hera's finger...

"Why did you tell her about Gabrielle?" he inquired pensively.

"Why do you think? I had to make her trust me somehow. I might have acted a little nasty during these last few years, and then again, our relationship has always been a bit shaky..."

"You actually call that thing you have with her a **"relationship?!" **Have you gone mad?!"the Olympian couldn't hide his surprise. "She's just another pathetic mortal for crying out loud! You can find thousands like her on the face of this damned earth, equally wanting, aggressive, and challenging...Son...couldn't you just fuck her a couple of times more until you get bored with her and get this over with?" he continued gesturing widely.

"Maybe later...But for the time being, I kinda like her...so don't touch my favorite toy or I'd might just start screaming and kicking so hard that you'd wish you had listened to me in the first place" Ares retorted clicking his tongue, his face hardened and passive, his jaw tense and his iron fists balled up, ready to jump at his Father throat at the slightest allusion that his proposal had no chance what so ever to be taken into consideration.

"Fine. You can have your little dolly. Just be careful Ares. I would hate to have to kill my own Son...And for all the Cosmos, stop acting as dumb as reckless as you always do, and from time to time look above that thick skull of yours, it might save your life one day ..." the King of the Gods replied throwing him an angry stare before he vanished from the room.

Lifting his gaze up, Ares' blood froze inside his veins for a second, and definitely felt the need to swallow hard a couple of times. Seven lightening bolts were directed straight towards him, ready to turn him into a mere footnote into the annals of history. Zeus could have killed him at any time had he wanted to.

Giving a howl of rage, and definitely wanting to blow off some steam, the God made a huge blue electricity bolt appear into his hand, and, throwing it full force into his Father's throne, he turned it to smithereens.

He dematerialized a second later back to Macedonia, his eyes glued on the new throne that was rising from the floor to replace the old one, the entire mess he had made disappearing as if it had never been there...


	14. A dinar for your thoughts

**14 A DINAR FOR YOUR THOUGHTS**

While the War God was off having his touching"Father-Son" conversation with Zeus, Xena was staring at the walls, the blank gaze of her sapphire irides drilling a hole as deep as the Ionian Sea through the bulk stone . She was getting more and more restless by the second, and, contrary to all beliefs, it was not that messy situation with Dahok and Gabrielle that had her so worried- Ares was a brilliant, matchless strategist, she knew that better than anybody- heck, she had seen him turning the die during battles which she would have normally considered hopeless at least a hundred times, by shouting one simple order, by changing one single direction of attack and winning every single time...

No...knowing him as she did, she could swear tha by now he had at least two solid plans ready for debate and three or four backups just in case, so the upcoming confrontation with the purest of evils hadn't managed to get her so hung up as her own relationship with the irresistible War God did.

More than anything, she was torn apart between the reality of what she knew to be her patron God's worldwide famous character- that "Selfish, Arrogant, Careless Bastard" full title she often liked to use when addressing him, describing with incredible accuracy his every main trait, and that other reality known by her alone, the one in which his trecherous and deceiving eyes held an additional sparkle of humanity, goodness and a "special something" that she didn't dare voice, whenever he looked at her .

Countless times she had seen the unmistakable flicker of love gleaming in his eyes, despite the fact that he had never explicitly confessed it to her without making sure to also seed a trace of doubt right next to his honey like words. And no, even if the one knee approach and midnight serenades were anything but his trademark style, he had proved himself to her on so many occasions that she had given up on keeping tabs years ago...

For some unknown reason, she sighed deeply...she couldn't even bare to remember all the near-death situations in which he had saved her life on the battlefield, breaking every single rule he had when it came to War and fighting.

He had always said that any Warrior who asked or needed his help was not worthy of his attention, and still, despite the fact that she had never asked, she did desperately needed it more than once, and, whenever the situation seamed to become hopeless and her injuries too severe, she'd instantly feel his presence right there, next to her, enveloping her body in some sort of impenetrable armor that acted at the same time as shield and bandage, stopping the bleeding, easing the pain and giving her the necessary strength to defeat her opponents.

At the end of each fight, when there was not one single enemy left standing he'd always take her to safety, cleaning her wounds, making sure that no damage was permanent... erasing the multiple scars from both her body and her soul with a glowing touch, or a kiss... doing all that with such infinite care and concern that at first, her every cell refused to believe it possible- coming from the Binger of Death, from the one who she herself had seen committing atrocities hard to describe without showing the slightest sign of remorse, his face passive and serene as if he was performing his favorite activity, like some kind of hobby or something...

And still...in spite of what all the others might have thought, she was always able to see beyond that thick clay mask he had the habit of putting on for the rest of the mortals and immortals around him...

Trying to disconnect her mind for a minute from that shaw of memories invading her brain, the Warrior Princess closed her eyes for a second, in the vain attempt to forget somehow that it was this particular place the one in which she had spent most of her warlord days, and that it was in his arms that she had felt more loved and more protected than she had ever been anywhere else in the world...

What frightened her the most though, was to actually rise from that damned sofa already and look around her again, to gather up the courage to at least take a short walk through the fortress, knowing that at every corner and at every turn, there would be another story from their common past, either engraved in the massive stone walls or painted...

He had always been obsessed with recalling everything about his precious Chosen...every little detail...he did knew her better than she knew herself, that was for sure.

Suddenly, the promiscuous array of her thoughts was instantly interrupted by Ayla's resonant voice:

"My Lady Xena!" she exclaimed, kneeling instantly at the Warrior Princess' feet. "I didn't know you were here! My Lord Ares hasn't mentioned anything about your return! It's so good to have you back!" the girl uttered, with distinct emotion in her voice, her face glowing with happiness.

Seeing her, Xena couldn't restrain a large, warm smile from breaking on the surface of her lips.

"Ayla! Hi! " she retorted, walking towards the young priestess and hugging her as tight as she could. "I'm not actually back...Not...that way" she murmured despite herself.

"Oh!" came the disappointed interjection. "Lord Ares would have been very happy if you..." she stopped though, realizing that the conversation was going way beyond her duties. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I'm just very excited to see you, that's all" Ayla added, pure and sincere joy lightening up her features.

Xena just caressed her face lightly , whispering a low "Don't worry about it..." before another wave of images assaulted her mind, picturing a not very pleasant scene in which, after a quite violent fight with a completely out of control War God, regarding her legendary lack of obedience even during moments in which his command was more than vital to her survival, Ares had just slapped her so hard that she had crumbled at his feet as if she had been a rag doll.

To her misfortune, Ayla who was brought to the fortress just days before, had happened to enter the room the very moment the God had drawn the sword ready to strike his Chosen, having not even the slightest clue that the the mighty Warrior Princess was hardly defenseless when it came to any armed person, mortal or God alike.

Consequently, her normal reaction almost cost the girl her life.

Watching her in the eyes now, Xena could still hear her bold voice, her words still echoing inside her head. She could still picture the scence so vividly as if it had happened but the day before:

"_No, My Lord, don't!" screamed a terribly alarmed or better said a totally unaware Ayla, dropping the tray she had been holding the instant Ares raised his blade above the Warrior Princess' head, stopping him in mid blow._

_Hearing her, Xena just arched an eyebrow, shaking her head disapprovingly, knowing that, involuntarily, the priestess had only given her an extra headache, indirectly forcing her to not only fight Ares but to also keep on arguing with him, and for an entirely new reason now too: to spare the girl's life. _

"_What did you just say?!" Ares instantly broke out, turning towards the trembling girl, his eyes darkened with such violent fury that Ayla new then and there that she had just made the worst mistake of her life. She should have kept her mouth shut and left the damned room without uttering one single sound. _

"_Speak up!" he yelled at her again, so loud that the girl completely forgot she needed to breathe._

"_I...uh..." was all that she could managed to say before the enraged God kicked her to the ground, so quickly that her brain barely got to register what exactly had caused that awful pain below her left rib cage._

_The next thing she knew was Ares's sword dropping like a lightening towards her neck, but, much to her surprise, hardly had she closed her eyes in terror, that, instead of feeling the sharp blade cutting her flesh deep, she heard a loud clash. _

_When her eyes opened wide again, she saw the Warrior Princess just inches away from her, parrying the God's attack with such a defiant look in her blue moons, that there was nothing on the planet that had the power to shatter inside Ayla's overly alarmed mind, the now absolute certainty that it only took one more blink before the Olympian would blast them both to Tartarus, Xena first. _

_And the girl's heart was not over skipping beats yet, for, the instant she saw her dark haired protector lowering her sword for a few moments she was about to have a heart attack. She finally suceeded to breathe though when she understood what Xena was actually trying to do, the moment she saw her lifting her free hand up towards the God's face, brushing the tip of her fingers against his velvety lips, thus cunningly driving his attention from her shaking form and pushing him slowly away. _

"_Uh uh uh!...Sorry Ares, call me possessive, but I wouldn't want you wasting your energy on anyone else, but me..."she articulated with a cattish smile that magically made the Olympian's expression change radically, the previously uncontrollable anger turning completely into a wide, devilish grin, and, the minute he began swinging his blade, the Warrior Princess flipped to the other side of the room, licking her lips lasciviously before adding:_

"_That slap you gave me...I kinda enjoyed it...so let's get this over with already so that we can move on to better things..." _

_It lasted more then half an hour- the continuous clashing, kicking, flipping and parrying- before the War God finally lost his patience and just blew the sword out of his Chosen's hand and, grabbing her hair, he pulled her into a rough, fiery kiss that made an unspeakably shocked Ayla gasp with surprise...Seconds later, they both vanished , leaving the priestess to guess the rest..._

"Are you...all right, My Lady?" Ayla finally inquired, caressing affectionately the Warrior Princess' upper arm, snatching her from that teasingly long daydream and bringing her back to reality.

"Yes, I am" the prompt reply left Xena's throat with the speed of light, quickly realizing that she must have seamed very pensive in deed if the priestess had actually dared asking her that.

"May I bring you anything? Is there something I can do for you?" the girl kept on asking, obviously wanting to make herself useful in any way, an adorable look painted on her face as if she was seeing her all time idol before her eyes.

Xena gazed at her chuckling softly. It was like looking at a kid who had just seen a chocolate raspberry cake in a pastry shop window. It was pretty much the same look that Gabrielle still gave her now and then, after a life-and-death confrontation with some blood thirsty Warlord...

"No Ayla, thank you...It's good to see you...It's been a long time..." she murmured, a bitter smile on her lips.

"Almost five years..." the priestess replied with a shrug.

"Are you here by yourself? Do you want me to call Lord Ares for you?" the priestess questioned, a slight note of hesitation in her voice.

The Warrior Princess couldn't help marvel at the girl's perfectly preserved innocence. After everything she had witnessed along the years she had spent with Ares there, did she really think that his own Chosen was not capable of requesting his presence herself?

"He already knows I'm here. He will join me shortly..." Xena articulated, heading towards the door of the large chamber. Ayla followed closely, a few steps behind her, both of them crossing unhurriedly the long corridor that led to the Warrior Princess' old room.

"I don't have the key to this room My Lady. Lord Ares had forbidden us to enter there after you...left" the priestess said, almost choking on that last word, despite the fact that she had taken her time debating wheather it was appropriate to use it or not.

Xena just gave her a cold stare before placing her hand on the large bronze doors. They opened instantly at her touch, revealing an impeccably looking chamber, despite the fact that nobody had clened the place up in years...There was no dust, no cobweb, no nothing...even the air was particularly fresh...it smelled like roses.

Xena just swallowed hard...

"You may leave" she told the visibly entranced Ayla, whose gaze was scrutinizing the place as if she was watching a bunch of interesting artefacts in the center of the National Museum's main exhibition room.

"Of course My Lady! Call if you need anything"

Xena didn't reply this time. She just scowled, annoyed by the frequency with which she had heard that phrase during the last few hours. She hated it...It reminded her too much of the readiness that Ares had always showed to make her feel as if she were the most important woman in the world...She sneered loudly. She had just realized that she actually hated it because she couldn't enjoy it anymore...not without feeling guilty about it anyway...

Slowly, the Warrior Princess stepped into the room...everything was in place, just as she had last left it...the bottle of perfume was still opened- that explained the fine flowery fragrance floating into the air-, the dark green dress that she had last worn during her dinner with Ares was still laizily thrown on the bed...her brush still on the dresser in front of the mirror...

Gradually advancing a few steps, Xena took the brush in her hand with so much reluctance as if it could have burnt her ..The minute she finally lifted it eye level, she began analyzing it with utter amazement though...It still had a few strands of hair entangled in between the silver bristles...

Silver...everything was sliver just how she liked it, from the handles of her armoire till the last necklace, ring or bracelet hidden in her jewelry box. Putting the brush back in place , she gently opened the elegantly sculpted octagon cover of the medium size item, extracting a finely executed necklace with an oval onyx medallion hanging from it.

Watching her, any observer would have noticed the distance that she had chosen to put between her and the extraordinary piece of jewelry, keeping it as far away of her as she could, as if fearing that bringing it too close, the chain could have wrapped around her neck all by himself, strangling her, chocking her to death.

The concept wasn't actually so far fetched, as she soon began felling choked by the tormenting images unfolding before her eyes again...

**_It was her birthday, she was turning 21, and she had been on the battlefield all day long. As the sun began to set, she firmly ordered her army to regroup and head back to camp. She was covered in blood from head to toe. Her hair was a mess, her amour felt like weighing at least a hundred pounds, she was tired and unusually disgusted with that awful smell of raw flesh and still flowing blood- To make a long story short, she wanted nothing more than to reach her tent already, have a long bath, change her clothes and drift to sleep, as the following day she needed to be up and about at first light in order to organize her men, estimate the casualties, calculate the effectives of remaining supply, getting ready to leave that stinking place ...she was so not in the mood for all tha crazy routine..._**

**_The instant she entered her tent she commanded the guards not to bother her under any circumstance, and, as she began undoing her gauntlets, right out of nowhere, she distinctly sensed his presence, strongest than the iciest blizzard and hottest than the desert sun...the flawless combination that always made her skin cover up in tiny goose bumps...She just loved the feeling..._**

**"_Hallo to you too" she said on a rather indifferent tone, while throwing one of the gauntlets on the floor at his feet, making the God wonder for the thousandth time how exactly could she tell where he was, considering the fact that he was still invisible._**

**_Chuckling softly he just stepped out of the aether, removing his invisibility shield, stopping dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on her. _**

**_Noticing his ever so shocked gaze, Xena couldn't help bursting into laughter, without the slightest intention to be rude though. She knew she must have looked as if a five level tornado had ran over her..._**

**"_What can I say War God? There were not enough mirrors on the battlefield...I strongly recommend you do something about it..." she stressed, letting him know that his persistent glare was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. _**

**_His eyes were still glued to her though, and it seamed like any impulse to shift his gaze was close to zero ..._**

**"_O...k..." she whispered, undoing her other gauntlet, letting it drop to the ground too._**

**_With slow, soft gestures, she started rubbing her stiff, aching wrist, finally ending by __closing her eyes and lazily throwing her head back before she began describing a few perfect circles meant to ease a bit the tension of both her shoulders and her neck..._**

**_When her eyes finally fluttered open again, the God's lips were visibly parted and his amber like irides were flickering with that unconfessed passion that she had seen on so many different occasions..._**

**"_You look stunning!" he exclaimed fervently, closing in the distance between them, and, refusing__ to at least leave her the chance to think of a matching reply, Ares already began __brushing away a few silken tresses, fallen in array over her perfectly sculpted visage, seemingly not at all disturbed by the obvious trails of fresh blood staining both __her cheeks and her forehead, his index languidly tracing the contour of her lips with an eagerness that took her completely by surprise._**

**_The next thing she felt was the unique sensation of his fingers entwining into her hair, of his strong arms pulling her impossibly close to his chest, pressing her even harder than the heavy armor previously did, making her literally wanna gasp for air, his hands roaming right about everywhere, no restrictions what so ever, expertly unbuckling her copper breastplate and letting it fall to the ground with a loud noise, and almost succeeding to completely unlace her battle dress too, when he finally lost what was left of his patience and made all the rest of her clothes vanish with one single wave of his hand, parting her lips demandingly the instant he noticed her soft nipples doubling in size as they brushed against the silver studs of his leather vest..._**

**_To his much dismay though, as he began melting progressively every single ounce of resistance still left in her, taking complete control over her body and soul, from somewhere deep inside her, that basic feminine instinct of always being beautiful and attractive for her lover miraculously prevailed, urging her to push him firmly away,her body tensing perceptibly as she recalled that each inch of her skin was still covered in claret and dirt, most likely smelling repulsively enough to kill ten men around her with the mere stench..._**

**_What she failed to realize was that for the wild natured War God, that was the ultimate turn on, the smell of blood and sweat, along with that still lingering discharge of energy, focus and determination around her aura equaling in his mind with the perfect ingredients of one memorable fuck. _**

**_Still, he stopped the very moment he felt her hesitation, breaking their kiss faster than he had intended too, and looking her in the eyes he instantly read the discomfort in them._**

**_He just gave her a tender smile before placing a loving kiss on her forehead, wrapping her tight in his arms...The following second, they were in an impressively luxurious bathroom, more precisely in the middle of a huge black marble hot tub, the water of which scenting absolutely divinely like rose and jasmine, with Ares still holding her close, his hands now having found a completely new use, the one of washing away the almost dried crimson liquid from her body, his every touch sending shivers up and down her spine, making her back arch more and more at each contact with his fingertips..._**

**"_Just try to remember next time that there are many types of beauty my Princess...and the one of a Warrior couldn't obviously come from the perfectly combed hair or from the heavy make up that the common whores like to disguise their fatigue with, but from their inner strength and from the fire burning incessantly in their eyes...And you Sweet...you are a Goddess no matter how ragged and dirty your clothes might be or how untrimmed your hair might look."_**

**_Turning around to face him, Xena observed that there was no trace of flattery hiding behind the usually ambiguous shades of the soft brown of his eyes, in exchange though, a boundless adoration could be read on their watery surface, as if she was in fact the Olympian Patron Deity and he was the blindly, unmurmuring follower. _**

"A dinar for your thoughts"the War God's sexy voice suddenly broke out from the opposite side of the room, waking the Warrior Princess from her long reverie in such an abrupt manner that she totally forgot she still held the necklace in her hands, dropping it the following second on the floor, almost jumping back at the noise.

"Whoa there!" Ares continued, totally taken aback by her unexpected reaction." Didn't mean to startle you... Your busy brain must have been replaying some pretty captivating memories if you haven't felt my presence by now..." he added, his eyes fixed on the necklace still lying on the floor...

He unconsciously bit his lower lip...it was her favorite necklace...he had given it to her as a present the day she turned 21. He distinctly remembered every single detail of that day: the magnificent image of her returning from a fierce battle, all covered in specs of dust and fresh trails of blood still dripping down her neck and her chest, her silky hair entangled and messy just the way he liked it, the scent of victory, pride and satisfaction surrounding her like a halo, so irresistibly attractive...him bringing her back here the instant he deciphered the silent discomfort in her eyes, cleaning each and every inch of her creamy skin, making love to her for hours before finally giving her that particular jewelry as a symbol of her graciousness and femininity despite the rough daily job she needed to perform for him.

His mind still sunk in thought, he walked over to her without establishing any eye contact this time, and, picking up the necklace from the ground, he simply placed it around her neck as if it had always been there, brushing his lips against the refinedly adorned clasp and the skin around it...

"Fit for a Goddess..." he whispered seductively against her ear" ...


	15. 15 Godly blessings

**15 GODLY BLESSINGS**

"Well I'm no Goddess Ares! The last time I checked you could still make me bleed!" Xena's snappy comeback broke out, ripping the necklace from her neck, and throwing it at his feet.

Before the rare piece of jewelry reached the floor though, Ares stopped it's landing with a mere gesture, and the next thing the Warrior Princess felt was the accursed thing touching her skin again as if she hadn't even removed it, just as he' d done it earlier that day with her shift, glaring daggers in his direction for having dared to do pull such childish stunt in the first place.

The sexy War God didn't leave her the needed time to protest this time , and hardly had her brain registerd his action that his unbelievably endowed physique was already heading her way, and , after one useless grimace from her part, he just closed in the distance between them. Chuckling softly he carefully unclasped the silver chain and placed it back in the box.

"That's highly debatable..." he finally articulated, his lips twitching into an arrogant, all knowing smirk.. "One year, remember?"

"Don't you dare!" she threatened, explicitly reminding him that whatever they agreed upon in front of the Fates was nothing but a worthless formality, uttered in the sole purpose of tricking Zeus that he was still in control and that she was no real threat to his precious War plans, providing them with the perfect cover until they could come up with a good enough strategy.

"I don't know, Xena...'Sounds tempting enough for me to want to give it a go..."

"Yeah I bet. Unfortunately, we made a deal, remember?"

"Deal, deal deal...Damn! We did make one didn't we?" he retorted, licking his lips as he felt her body tense the instant his low, sensuous voice began sending warm vibrations up and down her spine, her skin reacting instantly when he placed his palm on top of her shoulder, softly caressing the area.

"Good. So you haven't been stricken by Alzheimer yet. You got me worried for a second there" her overly sarcastic reply left her fiery mouth, without the slightest intention to move from the embrace in which the previous touch had just turned .

"The Warrior Princess herself worrying for me? I must say, I'm flattered" he answered, his eyes twinkling with mischief, his tone as caustic as hers.

"Well with you, flattery has always worked, nothing new about that one... " and as much as she had tried to avoid it, she just couldn't resist the impulse to close her eyes and lean back against his chest.

"Is that your way of telling me that I'm getting predictable?" Ares questioned, his voice muffled as his lips were actually way to busy kissing the base of her neck...

Xena wanted to answer, her brain having already come up with a stingy enough line, but when she did open her mouth, what actually escaped from her throat was a maddening moan that only made the God groan lowly in return, both of them parting from each other the second after, having simultaneously realized where that was heading to, chuckling softly as their eyes met again.

The Warrior Princess smiled teasingly arching an eyebrow as Ares ran nervously his hands through his short, dark hair, while trying to find a way to ignore the ever so pleasant pressure building in his throbbing erection.

"Blow something up, it might just help" she suggested, the extremely practically idea being already put to practice the instant she uttered it, turning around immediately to see a column crushing but a few feet away from her.

"Nope..." he articulated with a pout, taking a long look at the visible bulge in his pants.

"Anyway, you're a big boy, you'll get over it..." Xena began, walking slowly towards him, but the sight of her feline body getting closer and closer to his own ready to explode one, only made the War God take two firm steps back , raising his hands defensively like a wall in front of his chest:

"No no no...listen Sweetheart, if you want us to talk, you'd better keep those...luscious curves...away from me...!"

"Having troubles controlling yourself Ares? I'm surprised..."

"Only when it comes to you ok? Plus around any other feminine figure I wouldn't be forced to...Women usually react differently when they see **this**!" he retorted pointing towards his aching cock.

"Yeah Yeah! A blessing from the Gods!" she quickly completed the phrase, knowing the speech by heart. " Oh come on stop being such a baby and tell me about that plan already!" the dark haired Warrior shook her head disapprovingly, her patience wearing thinner and thinner.

" You can be so insensitive at times you know that?!" Ares whinned a theatrically plantive expression painted all over his face. When he began talking again though he had already changed the tune.

" The plan...Oh yeah! The plan's a joy! I'm getting to kill Blondie!" he said flashing one of those trademark grins of his.


	16. This pretty much sums it up

**16 THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP...**

"Sorry to disappoint you but that Lunatic's taken! It' s because of her that my son is dead. She might not have twisted the knife but she's as equally to blame for his death as Hope is! She's mine! "

"Uh uh...wrong Blondie Sweetheart!" the God stressed , instantly wiping out the smugness and determination from Xena's face, her expression changing in less than a blink from complete shock to utter disbelief, unspeakable revolt and of course a considerable dose of irritation.

She just darted at him questioningly, every muscle on her body flinching:

"You conniving bastard! Are you out of your freakin' mind? Has Zeus hit you in the head with a lightening bolt or something?" she exclaimed the instant she realized who he was actually referring to.

Ares gasped audibly, ignoring nonetheless that piercing stare the Warrior Princess was now directing straight to his neck as if she wanted to choke him or something.

"Tsk tsk tsk! Come on Xena, you're smarter than that. Hear me out ok? This might just be our only chance!"

"Really? Let's see...you kill Gabrielle, something goes terribly wrong and suddenly you can't bring her back anymore...me, I get stuck with you till the end of eternity maddened with grief...kinda conveninent wouldn'y you say so?" she inquired, shooting him an even nastier look than before.

The God just watched her gesturing edgily awhile before he decided to answer , only a faint flicker of emotion in his eyes.

"Are you done?"

The enraged Warrior pressed her lips together and finally stopped her pacing, planting both her hands on her hips in support, waiting for Ares' brilliant plan.

"Fine...enthrall me with your knowledge War God. "

Moving a few steps closer, the Olympian stopped but inches from her, the tip of his fingers beginning to glide down her beautiful visage, his thumb massaging her lips softly, subtly calming her before he decided to find some new occupation, his hand moving towards some loosen strands of hair which he carefully tucked behind her ear.

"She won't really die...It will be a setup...A mastermind one...But the entire plan needs focus Xena...impeccable focus. As for the timing... FLAWLESS. No screw ups. No one else can't know about it- you will only tell Blondie what she needs to know in order to do her part right when the time comes. Do you understand?"

She nodded quietly, without as much as uttering even the slightest sound as if she were some sweet little girl listening to her father, an anxious look in her eyes, waiting to hear the rest

"Now..." the God restarted his face dangerously calm, straightening out his shoulders and throwing his head back a little, his gaze pinned to the wall before him as if trying to find the right words in order to better express the details. "The most important thing of all all, is to trick the Fates- they are Zeus' ears and eyes. They know everything that moves, so our main goal is to make them believe that everything is unfolding according to those possible versions of truth that they're weaving there, doing everything without arousing any suspicions..."

"Tricking Destiny Ares? And just how do you want us to do that?"

"Tricking Destiny, cheating Death, whatever it takes...It won't be simple, but it is possible...All we have to do, is choose the most plausible pattern of yours and Gabrielle's lives, and blindly follow it...They will logically assume their damned prophecies are just taking their natural course...we on the other hand, we'll make sure that we turn everything into an exquisite Athenian Stage worthy performance, convincing Zeus that one of his main problems has been solved, and thus buying us more time to deal with the real thing..."

"All you've given me thus far are theories Ares. I need facts, details..." she burst out, a note of wonderment in her voice, somehow feeling that the God was dancing around the subject.

"Hold your horses! Gods you can be such a pain in the ass sometimes! " Ares barked back irritated by her obvious lack of trust despite the efforts he was making to help her.

"Well...let's see...first of all, we should focus on choosing the right scenario, right?"

"Right" came the silent answer of the Warrior Princess who just nodded in agreement.

"Ok...and according to the Bard's character, given the fact that Hope's her daughter..."

"Wouldn't work...too much history there. She wouldn't think twice about plunging a dagger into her heart"

"The dagger...that's very interesting that you've mentioned it...it will prove to be very uselful. We' re going to need it in order to kill..."

"Hope" Xena finished the sentence in a thick voice.

"Callisto" Ares contradicted her, an all-knowing smile on his face...

The Warrior Princess just gave him a puzzled look.

"You see, in order to make Dahok loose interest in Blondie, he should be offered a better deal instead..."

"You've lost me..."

"A different mother for his Destroyers, one with a darker soul...and a father of godly seed through whom he could sire a new race, a new, dominant species to rule the world, praising the name of the Dark God..."

He paused a bit, allowing her brain to process the information.

"Are you kidding me?!" Xena's resonant voice soon filled the air as a whirl of disjointed thoughts started spinning inside her head, throwing her emotionally completely out of balance. "Do you actually think that Dahok is going to buy that?! Making him believe that you'd betray your own kin in order to father six little monsters?"

"He will, once he sees just how serious and responsible I am about it..."

By now, the Warrior's Princess' eyes were ready to pop out of her head:

"What are you saying...?"

"Fuck his precious daughter, get her pregnant-thus vulnerable- win their thrust, that's more than enough to keep the Bard of the hook for awhile..."

"You Son of a Bache! I swear, you wouldn't miss one single opportunity to stick that..."

She instantly stopped though the instant the God raised a hand silencing her.

"Xena...unless you have a better idea...And stop playing jealous will ya, it's not like I'm raring to stick this unique piece of art in some psycho, evil mosnter's cunt, ok? "he added pointing proudly towards his cock.

"She had human form the last time we met Ares, so don't worry it won't be too much of a sacrifice..."

"Hey! Have a little respect will ya? When it comes to women I'm rather selective! I don't go bedding right about anyone, ok? I have my standards... "

"Oh shut up already Ares! You'd even fuck a statue if it had a hole!"

"You do have a low opinion of me don't you?!"

"Not low...reallistic!" Xena ended with a smirk, turning her back on him and heading towards the chesterfield, sinking in it, arms folded across her chest.

"Yeah, well no wonder I can hardly convince you to take dinner with me these days!" he exclaimed, profoundly disturbed by her remark.

"Anyway...get to the part where you get to kill Gabrielle ."

"Well...first thing's first...Hope and the child!"

"You are willing to kill your own child?"

"Oh that won't be me, that would be Gabrielle. I couldn't actually kill them because of the pact that I'll be forced to make with Dahok."

"What pact?"

"Well...you know...pledge myself to him, marry/fuck Hope whatever, father her children in exchange for your life...you name it" he articulated with a false, nervous laughter that Xena instantly recognized.

"That's very generous of you Ares, but I can take care of myself" the Warrior Princess replied rolling her eyes.

"No you can't...you're a threat to him...he will wipe you out from the face of the earth faster than you can blink once..."

"And just why would I be such a threat to him Ares, may I ask?"

There was a long heavy silence. Xena got up and walk over to him, sensing his distress.

"Ares!" she commanded, cupping his chin, forcing him to look at her.

"The Fates spoke of a child..."

"What child? What? Hope..."

"Yours."the God murmured, running his fingers through his short dark hair.

"Solan?".

"The Messanger of Peace. The Bringer of Twilight?"

"How...? When...? Are you sure...? " the questions began cascading from her mouth, her eyes widened in amazement, and right out of nowhere, her expression turned to horror as the idea struck her worse than lightening. "Don't tell me..."

"No it's not Dahok..."

Another long pause. She just stood there staring at him almost afraid to ask, hoping deep inside her soul that his answer would be positive, that he was the one meant to be the father of her child.

"You?"

Hearing her, Ares just smiled bitterly.

"Yeah, I wish..."

"Well spit it out already!" she urged him to talk, her patience reaching the bottom.

"I don't know. Ok? The prophecy speaks about a child not begotten by man, a child of pureness and light..."

"That would bring about the end of the...Gods..." she completed the phrase, almost chocking on the last word, suddenly realizing that he was too included in the category.

Trying to lighten up the mood a bit, Ares just began joking on the subject:

"Zeus has already went ballistic about it...Hey, you know how I've always said that you'll be the end of me? I guess I was right all along!"

That only managed to cause even more tension.

"Anyway, ...you can debate the details of your babyshower later with Aphrodite. Right now, we already have our hands full with this Dahok situation..." he promptly suggested, trying to change the subject.

"W...wait..." she sputtered, suddenly realizing that she was missing something."If Zeus knows this, how comes that I'm still alive?"

"The vows in front of the Fates? I practically had to convince him that once I help you save Gabrielle from the big bad wolf, you're pretty much mine, and that any child you might have, it will be with me..."

"A child of War could never be the Messenger of Peace..."

"That pretty much sums it up, yeah..."

At this point, the Warrior Princess was shocked...why was he doing all this for her...? To control her? To get something out of her...By all Gods, he was already holding all the cards, had he wanted to literally own her, he could have acted behind her back, blackmailing her and pushing her into a corner without the slightest effort...

"What if Gabrielle has a change of heart? What if she can't kill Hope? Once she hears that her own daughter's pregnant..."

"Oh she will...You just leave that to me" he retorted, taking her hand gently into his, caressing the fine silky skin before placing a soft, featherlike kiss on top of it. "...She still owes me a little favor..."

Xena just eyed him suspiciously, silently wondering what could Gabrielle possibly owe to the God of War, but without actually bothering to ask anything about it. She knew Ares far to well to be able to tell when it was useless to push him for intel.

"Well, it seams that you have it all covered..." she added, inhaling deeply as their gazes remained locked on each other, and she could barely restrain a frustrated sigh when, closing in the distance between them even more, she began feeling his warm breath on her face, like the lightest caress ever imaginable.

Without even realizing what she was doing, her mind in a blur and her temples almost exploding with stress, she just wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head on his chest, looking for that old familiar comfort of his embrace just like she had always done on so many various occasions in the past, when she felt that the situation was getting desperate.

Without a second thought, Ares chastely kissed the top of her head, encasing her protectively into his arms while slowly brushing her hair with the tip of his fingers, whispering lowly against her ear, words that one could never imagine coming from any War God's lips.

"Don't worry, Luv, everything will work out perfectly, we just have to be extremely careful, ok? Do this by the book...I just need you to promise me that if by any chance things don't go as planned, you won't do anything hasty. Whatever happens, we can fix it, ok Sweetheart?"

She just nodded lightly, her head still buried into his chest, the elegant fragrance of his cologne gradually relaxing every single muscle of her body.

"Say it out loud. I wanna hear it" the God insisted, and with good reason. He was very much aware who he was dealing with, her immeasurable stubbornness having given him migraines more times that he was able to remember.

"I promise" she whispered lowly. " Ares..." she continued, tightening her grip on him even more, making his pulse race even faster than before.

"Yes Sweet?"

When she spoke her voice was ragged and broken.

"About the child...we'll figure something out for that too right?"

From the moment she finished uttering the phrase till the instant Ares started caressing her hair again, it seamed like an eternity had passed. He didn't know what to say...When he said it though, lifting her head up with the tip of his fingers too see her beautiful cerulean eyes, he just let that cocky, sexy smile of his take over his lips, whispering comfortingly, hoping he himself that maybe, just maybe they would manage to find a proper solution to that problem too.

"Of course we will, my Princess. We always do, don't we?"

She smiled back affectionately, that one of a kind, special smile of hers that could have brighten up even the cloudiest of his days.

"Thank you" she murmured, pressing delicately her lips to his own, making him flinch, and soon, that candid, appreciative kiss gradually turned into one of those deep, bruising ones that they always loved to share.

" I love you..." she couldn't stop the words from leaving her mouth the instant they parted, desperately needing to breathe...

By the time the same line left his lips, the world itself was dissolving around them into the shape of an electric blue, blinding vortex meant to transport them back to the forest where Gabrielle was waiting with Seraphin.

The instant they materialized, they just exchanged one more glance before Ares vanished back on Olympus, busy with putting the plan into motion.

The God winked at her, biting his lips lustfully.

"Come on Xe...Let's get this show on the road! It's high time we show this scumbags who's in charge!"

She just chuckled softly, partially bemused by his incredibly self conceited attitude.

"I'll see you later!"

"Don't wear any clothes!"

She wanted to smack him but he was already gone., so she just rolled her eyes, for the tenth time or so that day...How in Gaia's name was she so crazy in love with that arrogant Bastard, was beyond her...

THE END

**xxx I REALLY WANNA THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN REVIEWING OR READING THIS STORY, BEARING WITH ME TILL THE END, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT, GUYS xxx ( My next story, "Dreams" is almost ready so, don't go anywhere:)) **


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